


Equestria Girls: Volume 5

by ChristaWolf, LonghaulHoofer



Series: Equestria Girls [5]
Category: My Little Pony: Equestria Girls
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-05-05 22:21:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 29,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14628234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChristaWolf/pseuds/ChristaWolf, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LonghaulHoofer/pseuds/LonghaulHoofer
Summary: After discovering that Earth’s thaumic levels are rising rapidly, the human race begins transforming into ponies. Now transformed, Gem and her friends take their first curious steps into a new world.





	1. The Magic Inside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Equestrian magic begins to transform the inhabitants of Earth into ponies, and the girls, with the help of Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Twilight, work together to stop it before it gets too bad.

“What do you mean you think our world has more magic in it?” Carrie Shadow’s voice asked from Gem’s phone. “I thought I hoovered up all the excess when your statue portal broke!”

“That was six years ago, Carrie,” says Gem from the other end of the line. “Since then we’ve had at least two or three major magical incidents a year, plus there’s the fact that each of us use magic every day. According to Twilight, Raven’s thaumic output is at half of what someone like Princess Twilight is at, which should be a lot lower for a human. Her theory is that the amulets we have are working two ways. They’re sending thaumic energy into us, and working to amplify what we already have when we pony up.”

“Which comes with its own side effects,” Sunset Shimmer added. “The more often we use magic, the stronger the background magic field in our world gets. And our world isn’t even supposed to have one of those. I thought it was isolated to just Canterlot, but…”

“I hacked into one of our satellites,” Twilight added, “And got it to scan for Equestrian magic. The field isn’t just in Canterlot and Manehattan anymore, it’s starting to spread. It’s already covered most of the area between here and Washington, DC.”

“And that’s not all,” Emerald continued. “At work the other day, I saw some random dude float some paperwork over to someone else. At first I didn’t think anything of it, but then I remembered, wait, he’s never even seen magic except when I’m using it at work! Which can only mean…”

“More humans are starting to gain awareness of, and therefore the ability to use, Equestrian magic,” Carrie finished. “Alright… you girls hang tight. I’m catching the first flight to Manehattan that I can.” She hung up.

The four girls heaved a deep sigh. “We’re in trouble now, aren’t we?” Emerald asked the others.

“Seems that way,” Sunset agreed. “Should I write to Princess Twilight?”

“Not yet,” said Gem. “Let’s wait for Carrie to get here first. Remember girls, no magic usage while she’s with us, we can’t risk contaminating the results. If it turns out she can wield magic just like us… that’s when we know we’re in trouble.”

“Right!” The foursome took off their amulets (and in Gem’s case, her magic screwdriver) and put them up in a safe place, specifically, a locked box Twilight built specifically designed to nullify magic. Then, they went about their day.

* * *

Halfway across the world, Carrie Shadow ran her light grey fingers through her hair as she tied it back to keep it out of her eyes. She was, first and foremost, a scientist, and proper protocol dictated that she keep distractions to a minimum. Satisfied, she threw on her labcoat and walked down the stairs to her basement laboratory, humming.

Things had changed quite a bit for Carrie in the last few years. She’d graduated with honors from Trottingham Prep, earning many scholarships to some of the U.K.’s best scientific schools. Having a bachelor’s and a master’s meant she could quit her job as a mechanic and devote herself full time to the world of science, which she did with aplomb. And now, it seemed, her cousin and her friends needed her help.

As she entered her lab, she said in a loud, clear voice, “Alright Jarvis, I need my magic container!” She was referring, to the dinner plate she and Corvus Sable, Raven’s brother, had used to contain the extra magic the last time something like this had happened. Jarvis was a robot assistant she’d built with his own fully functional AI.

“There is a slight problem with your container, Miss Shadow,” Jarvis answered. “It appears to have caught fire.” He led her to a separate part of the lab, where a dinner plate sat, as part of a magical containment device. It was smoking.

“Gordon Bennett!” Carrie shouted, throwing open the door and running into the separated area. But there was nothing she could do. As she reached for some tools, the containment device exploded, sending a rainbow colored shockwave through the lab and, eventually, all of Trottingham, finally dissipating at the city limits.

* * *

When Carrie woke up six hours later, something had changed. “Ugh... what in hell was that?” she asked. “Jarvis, can you bring me a mirror please?” she asked.

“Certainly, ma’am,” Jarvis replied, his chest reforming into a perfect mirror and bending down in front of Carrie.

Carrie looked at herself in shock. Though still mostly human, she now had pony ears the same color as her skin, which poked through her hair. Her pupils now resembled those of a cat, and she had a tail. Plus, to her complete surprise, a pair of bat wings had sprouted from her back, her feet had been replaced with hooves, and a unicorn horn had materialized on her forehead. “Uh-oh...”

“New parameters detected. Analyzing.” Jarvis calculated for a few seconds. “Analysis complete. Physical structure is now 36 percent equine. Thaumatic resonance is peaking at 84 percent. Miss Shadow, you are transforming. The process is still ongoing.”

“Fascinating…” Carrie whispers, running her fingers along her new ears, wings, and swishing her tail. “Any idea how long it will take until I’m more equine than human?”

Jarvis computed that query. “Estimating conversion to total equine in 70 hours, thirty-seven minutes, and twenty-two seconds at current rate.”

“Got it.” She floats over her laptop (for some reason the abillity to use magic now came naturally to her) and sends a quick email to Gem, updating her on the situation, complete with pictures. She presses a button on Jarvis’ side, turning him into a small silver and red CD walkman. “Alright… let’s go get to the bottom of this.”

* * *

Manehattan International Airport was one of the busiest in the country, and this day was no exception. Pony-humans of all three main races now formed a significant portion of the employees, and of course, the travelers. Gem and Sunset were sitting in the arrivals lounge, waiting for Carrie with worried expressions on their faces, munching on some hay fries they’d bought from a stall for an outrageous markup.

“So according to Carrie’s email,” Gem said, “She’s now 36% equine, and if those estimates her assistant calculated hold true, she’ll be fully equine within three days.” She showed Sunset an image of [herself](https://www.furaffinity.net/view/27770109/) as a bipedal unicorn mare, with four fingers on each hand rather than five. “Extrapolate that out to the rest of the world, and this is what I could look like in that time.”

“Which means we don’t exactly have a lot of time on our hooves… I mean, hands,” Sunset agreed. “The magic’s already affecting our tastebuds and our speech patterns… I’m writing to Twilight now.” She took out her journal and got to work, her pen flying across the pages. Gem, meanwhile, looks back at the arrivals board, holding her hands in her lap and worriedly flicking her tail.

“There,” Sunset said, closing the book. “Hopefully, she’s not too busy and can respond quickly.”

The status board indicated Carrie’s flight had landed and was at the gate. A few minutes later, Carrie approached from the terminal. She spotted Gem and ran over to her. “Cousin! I think it might be getting worse!” she exclaimed, wrapping Gem in a hug. “Trottingham as a whole is mutating faster than in other areas! It might be due to that explosion in my lab that started … well, this.” She indicated herself, a fine pelt of fur now beginning to cover her body.

“Oh no…” Gem sighs, “I left my magic screwdriver at home, but if you already have fur, I’d say you’re at least 50% pony now… come on, let’s get going.” The three quickly head to Gem’s car.

“Is there some way of halting or reversing it?” Carrie asks as Gem guides them through the busy traffic.

“No idea,” Sunset answers. “We won’t know until Princess Twilight and the Royal Sisters get here. “The only good news is, it’s not affecting Equestria’s magic at all. Everything that’s happened so far has come from the magic we girls have had since the Fall Formal.”

“Some good news,” says Carrie dryly. She’s uncharacteristically quiet as they park and hurry upstairs to the girls’ penthouse.

Sunset felt the book buzz, and quickly opened it. “The princesses will be here shortly. Seems they found something, but they want to confirm it with a visit before they act upon it.”

Gem went over and sat with her cousin. “C’mon, it’s not the end of the world.”

Carrie nods. “You’re right, this feels much different. Remember when the world ended for about three nanoseconds? Sure, it felt like an eternity to us, but at least it taught me not to mix gluten-free bacon bits with soy-milk ranch dressing.”

“Exactly!” says Gem brightly, letting out a neigh before she can stop herself. She realizes what she’s just done and blushes.

“Hey girls! Look!” Sonata exclaims. “I have scales again!” Sure enough, the youngest siren’s body is now covered in light blue scales. She also has earfins, webbed hands, and fangs, plus the same scaly tail that she has when ponying up.

“Which means the changes are continuing to accelerate,” Twilight says, looking up from her tricorder. She already has a light coat of fur, just like Carrie. “And everypony’s thaumatic resonances are increasing too.”

“Thanks Spock,” says Emerald, kissing Twilight’s cheek. “How long until the royals get here?”

Gem thought. “Well, knowing Princess Twilight and her punctuality, not to mention her tendency to overreact to most crises, all three should be arriving…” The mirror portal shimmered and from it stepped Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Twilight. All of them remained in pony form, rather than changing into humans. “…now,” Gem finished. “Welcome, Princesses, and hello again, Twilight,” she said, looking them over.

“Sister,” Luna said, “I thought you said we’d change to human form upon exiting the portal.” She looked behind her and swished her tail. “I was not aware humans had tails, given the reports submitted by Twilight.”

“It appears the magical interference is becoming worse,” Celestia responded. “It has prevented our transformation.”

Gem nods. “Ever since our Twilight and Emerald came back from their honeymoon, we’ve noticed more and more humans getting increasingly pony-like. Carrie’s changing faster than all of us as it is.”

“Hmmm…” Celestia lit her horn and pointed it at the mirror portal. She held it for a few seconds, and stopped. “This is not the source,” she said, “there is no magical signature radiating off of this fixture. Show me these amulets of yours.”

Gem nods, using her own magic to levitate the girls’ Camp Everfree amulets over to Celestia. “They let us use additional powers that we wouldn’t otherwise have,” she explains. “I can manipulate time, Raven’s lets her fly and be super strong, Sunset’s lets her read minds, Adagio’s lets her weaponize music, Aria can control the weather, Sonata can talk to animals, Twilight can use telekinesis, and Emerald can make shields.”

Celestia lit her horn again, and swept it over the amulets. After a few seconds, she stopped and looked to her sister and Princess Twilight, giving them a nod.

“And you say these stones just… bonded to you?” Luna asked. “There were no incantations or conjuring on your part?”

“No, Princess Luna,” Sunset answered. “This happened without any interference from us.”

“I see…” Luna hums thoughtfully and turns to her sister. “Tia, these stones… I find their bonding properties reminiscent of the Elements of Harmony. And as harmony magic has already begun changing this world, it cannot be undone without causing significant damage. No… the transformation will have to be seen through to the end.”

“The end?” Emerald asked. “What does that mean?”

“It means you humans will become full Equestrian ponies,” Celestia answered, her voice grave. “Returning to the Elements, it seems as though they have chosen new hosts, and a new home. As such, we cannot remove their power completely, but there has to be a way to localize it, to contain it to the bearers. Whatever happens must do so without being forced.” She turned to the Twilights, who were looking at each other and taking notes. “Can you two develop a way to contain the magic in the amulets? A form of seal, that will only allow the bearer to wield the powerful magic they contain?”

“We can do that easily,” says Princess Twilight. “We can also speed up the humans’ transformations, as letting it play out naturally would take too long.”

“But humans aren’t exactly as peaceful as you ponies are,” Adagio said. “Apart from us, there could be riots in the streets as people realize they have powers, terrible chaos could be unleashed upon the world!”

“Then we’ll have to do some mind manipulation magic too,” Human Twilight said. “At the very least, we can give them new instincts.”

“Harmony magic can be controlled to that degree?” Gem asked.

Princess Twilight shook her head. “No… it can only be guided. All we can do is ask it to speed up what is already happening, and to fix any potential contradictions. What happens next is up to the magic itself.”

“Mind magic is a dangerous area of thaumology,” Princess Luna added. “But in this case, we have no choice.”

Gem raised her hand. “So, let me see if I have this right…” she said. “We can contain the amulets’ spells so that we can only use them, and seal them to avoid further leakage issues… while also speeding up the transformation of the human race?”

Princess Twilight nodded. “Correct. If we do this right, you’ll be just like us, with pony ears, tails, manes, and hooves, plus wings or a horn, depending on the race of your counterparts in our world. In essence, Earth will become a new Equestria, one where ponies walk on two legs rather than four.”

Gem thought this over. “This wasn’t quite what I had in mind when I said I wanted to change the world… but I’m an open-minded mare. We’ll just have to make the best of things. Let’s get started, girls.”

And so they did. The two Twilights worked together to seal the new Elements to their bearers, and then, the three Princesses and eight humans combined their magic, sending a rainbow colored wave over the world. 

The magic worked quickly, completely altering the makeup of the human world in the space of a few seconds. Every human on Earth was transformed, growing body parts similar to those of their Equestrian equivalents. Most of them became covered in fur, their feet became hooves, they developed tails, muzzles, and pony ears. They even got their cutie marks, if they were old enough.

In no time at all, the human race was utterly transformed into bipedal equines. One third of this new race developed horns, another third grew wings, and another got super strength, allowing them to pull enormous weights that would have been impossible otherwise. Some humans became griffons, while others became like changelings. But one thing remained constant: they had all been reshaped into a form that the magic was used to, and the human race as it was had ceased to exist.

There were smaller changes too. Save for the nine former humans in the apartment’s main room, the minds of the new ponies were altered, giving them the knowledge they needed to use their new gifts like they had always been there.

As the rainbow faded, Carrie flapped her wings. “This will be much more fun than the time I made mechanical wings!”

“What happened when you made mechanical wings?” Princess Twilight asked.

Carrie sighed. “There was an… incident involving a spy plane and a British army base. The details remain classified.”

Sunset smiled to the 3 Equestrians. “Thanks for coming on such short notice… if anything happens, we’ll let you know in the usual way.”

Celestia nods, smiling back. “You’re very welcome, Sunset Shimmer. I am glad that we were able to solve the problem. For now, we must return, but you’re all always welcome to visit.” The three princesses trot back through the mirror, which ripples, before going still.

“Wow… we're no longer the only magic users in the world,” says Emerald quietly. “Gotta admit, that sounds pretty cool to me. I'm gonna get used to having a horn.” She runs her fingers along it thoughtfully.

“Careful there, you could get arrested, stroking your horn in public like that,” Aria snarked. Emerald stuck her tongue out.

“Hmm … we were magical beings anyway, and now there’s an infusion of magic… I wonder…” Adagio said quietly. Channeling some magic through her hands, she created a glowing ball of light. Focusing on it, the ball grew, encompassing her completely, before fading away to reveal a quadrupedal [pony](http://bit.ly/2TR3eXD) with Adagio’s cutie mark. “So…am I still adorable?” she asked, swishing her tail.

“You most certainly are, dear girl,” says Gem with a smile, hugging Adagio tight. Carrie squees and begins petting the transformed siren happily.

“What I’m more surprised by is that we are now the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony,” Sunset comments. “I never would have imagined that was possible!”

“I guess, perhaps the Elements go where they sense a need,” Raven theorized. “Which means, there might be trouble on the horizon, sooner or later.”

Aria glared at Raven. “You’re such a ray of sunshine, you know that?”

“She does have a point,” Sunset said. “The Elements wouldn’t have bonded to us unless something major was going to happen, so we better stay on the alert.”

Gem gets a notification on her phone and opens the news app, doing a quick scroll through the headlines. “It’s all magic related,” she says, amazed. “People all over the world are using their new powers for all kinds of things! This is wonderful!”

“…so, the Elements are here to make sure it isn’t used for bad purposes?” Raven asked, confused.

“Sort of,” says Sunset. “They’re usually used in dire emergencies, such as when Nightmare Moon attacked Equestria, or when Discord was petrified, or when King Sombra was banished from the Crystal Empire. In the wrong hands… well…”

“Raging she-demon,” said Aria at once. “No offense.”

“None taken.” Sunset looks to Aria. “Actually, I meant to ask: were you three banished with their power too?”

Adagio shakes her head. “Not at all, we were banished thanks to the combined efforts of the Elements’ forerunners, the Pillars of Equestria.” She smirks. “Oooh, if only that old goat could see us now…”

“Makes sense,” Twilight said. “The Elements wouldn’t have bonded to them if they were used to defeat them.”

“Yay, we’re a force for good!” Sonata exclaimed, striking a heroic pose, only to be soundly thwacked by a stray pillow.

“Don’t let it go to your head, Captain Zero,” Aria said in passing, picking up the pillow.

Sonata sticks her tongue out. “You’re just jealous because I look hotter in my superhero outfit than you do!”

“Do not!” Aria retorts.

“Do too!”

“Do not!”

“Do too!”

* * *

That night, Gem and Raven are lying together in their bed, cuddling as always. “I hope my horn isn’t getting in the way,” says Gem softly, kissing Raven’s cheek. “I’m not used to having one.”

“I never thought I’d have to tell my girlfriend to watch where she’s sticking that thing,” Raven said with a chuckle. She wrapped Gem up in her wings. “Really, it’s okay, it’s not in the way at all. Especially when I do this.” She leaned in and kissed Gem tenderly.

Gem returns the kiss, her horn letting off a few harmless sparks as she does.

“Nice lightshow,” Raven say with a smirk. “I wonder what happens if… if it’s more than a kiss?”

“Let’s find out,” Gem smirks, using her magic to lift their clothes off and into a corner of the room. “And you know… I think this is a perfect opportunity to break in my new vagina, wouldn’t you say?” she purrs, giving her tail a few sensuous swishes. She’d had sexual reassignment surgery a few months earlier.

“I think you may be right…” Raven said seductively, switching out the lights.

* * *

_Meanwhile, in Appleoosa:_

The buzzing of the alarm clock roused Longhaul from his slumber. Slamming his hand down on the snooze button, he sat up and smacked his lips, then swung himself out of bed and shuffled off toward the bathroom. Passing the full-length mirror on the closet door, he stopped and took a look at himself. It was then he noticed that his ears had relocated to the top of his head, and were a lot fuzzier than they usually were. Feeling something strange on his lower back, he looked to see a long, flowing tail trailing out behind him. He saw that his feet had been replaced with equine hooves, and that he now had an equine muzzle and fur. He gave his tail a couple of swishes to determine that it was indeed his. He sighed. "Just my luck. I get more hair, but it doesn't grow in on my head."

Upon turning on his computer, Longhaul would find an email from Gem:

_“Dear Longhaul: if you’re reading this, then you are probably wondering why you look like a two-legged pony. The short explanation is that the girls and I are the new bearers of an important Equestrian artifact, the Elements of Harmony. Thanks to those, the world is now a little more magical than usual, hence why you now look the way you do._

_A few things you should be aware of: as an earth pony-human, you are capable of enormous feats of strength, the likes of which would be impossible for most people, except perhaps Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 80s. You are also able to grow plants, fruits, and vegetables with ease._

_More generally, you will also have a taste for hay and certain types of flowers, and you’ll also find yourself using words like ‘everypony’, ‘somepony,’ ‘anypony,’ ‘colt,’ ‘stallion,’ ‘mare,’ ‘filly,’ and other such terms by instinct. All of this is normal._

_I know this is rather sudden, but believe me, you have nothing to be concerned about! If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. All my love, Gem.”_

Longhaul sighed, and he thought of the tasty steaks in his freezer when he read Gem's email. He wondered if it were possible to find a florist that catered. He figured it might be better to go back to bed. And he did just that.


	2. The Return of Starswirl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starswirl pays a visit to the human world, and makes some surprising discoveries.

The doors of Twilight’s castle library were thrown open as Starswirl the Bearded stepped through, his hat-bells jingling with each step of his hooves. “Princess Twilight,” he thundered, “I have returned from-” He stopped.

“Princess Twilight isn’t here,” Starlight Glimmer interrupted. “She went over to the other world.”

“Other world?” Starswirl echoed, before turning to find a tall blue and purple mirror standing in a corner of the room, hooked up to a machine, which had a book resting at the top. He gasped. “This is one of my mirror portals!” he exclaimed. “I thought I’d destroyed them all!” He turned back to question Starlight, but before he could say anything, the mirror’s surface rippled, and Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Twilight stepped through, looking happy about something.

Twilight gasped. “Starswirl! You’re back!”

“Indeed,” said Starswirl, frowning. “Celestia, I believe I ordered these portals destroyed after you used the prototype in secret.” His tone was stern.

“All but this one, Starswirl,” Luna replied. “After you were taken to Limbo, Tia and I decided to keep it secured in the restricted section of Canterlot Castle’s library, where it remained undisturbed.”

“Until Sunset Shimmer, a former student of mine, used it to flee Equestria after I banished her from the castle,” Celestia added. “She had become a vengeful, angry pony, and hoped to use the mirror’s secrets against me. She later stole the Element of Magic, and would have used it to strike me down had Princess Twilight been unable to retrieve it.”

Twilight nodded. “When I went through to get it, I found it was used as a prop for a… well, a school dance.”

Starswirl blinked. “A… school dance.”

Twilight nodded some more. “I wouldn’t have been able to come home at all if two others didn’t help me get my crown back,” she continued.

“And were these others natives of this other realm?” Starswirl asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes sir,” Twilight answered. “Even though they weren’t the original bearers, both of them were able to use the magic of friendship with me, and because of them, Sunset was defeated. I thought that was the end, but a few months later, Sunset informed me through the journal,” she indicated the book resting at the top of the mirror, “that the sirens had returned.”

“The Sirens,” Starswirl growled. “I thought I had seen the last of them when the other Pillars and myself banished them to that world. We did not know anything else about it beyond that it had no magic.”

“Not exactly,” Twilight said. “They had enough magic through their amulets that they could control humans the same way they controlled ponies, allowing them to live for centuries.”

“I see,” Starswirl said. “I believe I must investigate the sirens myself. If they have gained power in this other world, then it is only a matter of time before they return to Equestria!” And before any of the princesses could stop him, he strode purposefully through the mirror and out of sight.

* * *

“Hey Gem! We got another visitor!” Emerald Wave called, cupping her hands to her muzzle. She was shouting in the general vicinity of the penthouse’s main bathroom, where Gem was currently showering in an attempt to get used to her new unicorn magic. A few minutes earlier, humanity had been changed into a two-legged breed of Equestrian ponies; Gem, Sunset, Emerald, and Twilight were unicorns, Raven was a pegasus, and the Dazzlings were, of course, sirens, which meant they had scales, earfins, fin-like wings, fishy tails, webbed hands, and cloven hooves.

“Now?!” Gem exclaimed from the bathroom. “For heavens’ sake… Emerald, get them some tea, at least! I’ll be out in a few minutes!”

“Got it!” Emerald called back, before turning to the grey-furred bearded unicorn stallion in the cloak and hat who had just fallen to the floor in front of the mirror. “Alright Gandalf, up you get…” She hoisted Starswirl to his hooves, smiling.

“My name is not Gandalf,” said Starswirl firmly. “I am Starswirl the Bearded, legendary archmage of Canterlot, father of the amniomorphic spell, and…” he paused, “Young lady, why do you resemble a bipedal version of my own species?”

“I’m a pony now, just like you,” Emerald explained, as if she was talking about the weather. “Long story. Gem will explain it when she gets out of the shower.” She headed over to the kitchen to pour Starswirl a cup of tea. “Oh yeah! I’m Emerald Wave, and this is New Equestria!”

“So I see,” said Starswirl, looking himself over. “I see I am still a pony… this is supposed to be impossible.”

“Oh relax, will ya Michael Gambon?” Emerald said, chuckling. She handed Starswirl his tea, while sipping Dr. Pepper from an enormous plastic cup. “Impossible things have been happening around us girls ever since Sunset showed up with Princess Twilight’s crown.”

“Yes, I have been informed,” Starswirl said. Before he could say anything else, Gem entered the room at that moment, wearing her usual blue sweater and black jeans (which had magically acquired a tail-hole). She saw Starswirl and smiled. “Ah, you must be our guest! Welcome! My name is Gemini Shadow, sir, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” She offered him her hand, which Starswirl shook with his hoof.

“It is nice to meet you too,” said Starswirl. “I have not had the occasion to meet a denizen of your realm before. However, I must warn you, you are in great danger. Present in your world are beings called sirens, who-”

He was interrupted again as Raven came striding into the room, yanking a brush through her tail. “Who, Dagi, Aria, and Sonata? They’re good girls, they wouldn’t harm a fly!”

“Then it is clear they have brainwashed you,” said Starswirl, rising. “Fortunately, I know a spell that can-”

He was yet again interrupted by Adagio entering the room, carrying a load of laundry in her arms. She saw Starswirl and stopped right where she was, dropping the basket on Raven’s head. Raven swore as she fell to the ground.

“You,” Adagio hissed, darting toward him and looking him in the eye with pure hatred in her gaze, “I’d know that Faust-forsaken hat anywhere. What are you doing here, Starswirl? Come to gloat?!”

“Adagio, calm down!” said Gem loudly, looking concerned. She’d never seen Adagio like this before.

“Silence!” said Starswirl loudly, firing a few sparks off from his horn. “Adagio Dazzle, I had honestly hoped that when I banished you and your sisters here, to what is supposed to be a magic-free world, that you would perish, since you would have had no way to feed yourselves, and tempt the humans into doing your wicked work.”

“The humans were why we survived at all,” Adagio thundered. The room got deadly silent as Gem, Emerald, and Raven exchanged looks. “From the centuries we spent integrating ourselves into this world, its many cultures, and its people, to now, as mortal beings, with our friends to watch over us, and to stop us from committing acts of evil… were it not for humans, we would indeed be dead, you rancid old goat.”

“LIES!” Starswirl roared, his horn flaring to life. “It is clear as ever that you have bewitched these alleged friends into doing your bidding, and I will not stand for this!”

“ENOUGH!” Gem yelled, firing off a few sparks from her own horn. “We shall all sit down, calm ourselves, and discuss things like calm reasonable ponies!” She barked. Turning to Starswirl, she continued. “Princess Twilight was kind enough to tell us that you might come here when you were released from limbo. I am given to understand that you and your assistant, a Clover the Clever I believe, have made a habit of using our world as a dumping ground for magical creatures, such as our siren friends,” she indicated Adagio, “and objects, such as the Memory Stone.”

“The Memory Stone,” Starswirl repeated. “I told Clover to destroy it, not place it here! It could have unimaginable consequences!”

“It was destroyed years ago,” Emerald said, puncturing the drama with her dry wit. “And a good thing too! It wiped all our memories of Sunset, and then, just for good measure, it wiped all of hers too! If we hadn’t used the magic of friendship when we did, none of us would be sitting here right now!”

Starswirl sighed. “I do believe you ladies have a large amount of explaining to do,” he said eventually.

“Then let’s wait for everypony else to arrive,” said Gem patiently, “And we’ll get to explaining.”

* * *

The conversation went on for several hours as each of the eight friends (Carrie contributed occasionally, when she wasn’t sketching in her inventing notebook) told the wizard all about the various magical events that had happened to them over the years. When they got to the part about the CHS portal being wrecked by Midnight Sparkle’s magic, Starswirl exclaimed, “You eight are lucky that you were not killed! Magical disruptions of that nature, particularly when dark magic is involved, could have caused the portal to explode altogether. If that had happened, you would have been made equine far earlier than you were.”

“It almost did,” Gem explained. “But thanks to the intervention of Carrie over there,” Carrie blushed, “we were saved at the last minute. That was also when Princess Twilight decided to build a device that would let her pass through the portal at will, rather than wait thirty moons, so she could get to us in case of an emergency.”

“But of course, there were after effects,” Sunset added. They moved on to the Camp Everfree adventure, and the eight amulets they’d received.

Starswirl took Gem’s amulet in his magical grip. “This amulet shares the same bonding properties as the Elements of Harmony… perhaps they are one and the same. But how can this be? We used the Elements to free Stygian from the power of darkness…”

“I might have an answer for that,” Twilight said, raising her hand. “The Tree of Harmony keeps all of Equestria from getting too chaotic, right? Well, when my royal counterpart and her friends returned the Elements to the tree, perhaps the tree, sensing that there was more magic in our world, redistributed them here, so that the new bearers,” she indicated the rest of them, “could keep this world’s magic from taking over everything?”

Starswirl nodded, impressed. “Well put, Miss Sparkle. I see you are as astute in the magical arts as your counterpart, despite not naturally being of a species that can handle it. Your current form is the result of a safeguard I placed upon the portal originally. In the event of an excess of magic, any magical artifacts in the other world will begin reshaping it to better accommodate the use of magic, including species conversion.”

“So that’s why we’re all like this!” Raven exclaimed. “Awesome!”

Starswirl nodded. “Indeed.” He looked over at Adagio. “Miss Dazzle… I apologize for antagonizing you earlier. As I learned with Stygian, no villain remains a villain forever. They can be reformed, given the right combination of friends. And the young women with which you and your siblings have surrounded yourselves meet those qualifications.”

“Thank you, Starswirl,” said Adagio simply.

* * *

“So, what did you learn?” Princess Twilight asked, as Starswirl stepped back through the mirror into Equestria.

Starswirl chuckled. “Many things, Princess Twilight… it seems I still have much to understand about friendship.” The two ponies laughed together, trotting off into another room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After the way season 7 of MLP: FIM ended, this story was practically begging to be written. Starswirl was back, we had a canon explanation for how the Dazzlings wound up on Earth, and he could share information about his portal that the girls wouldn't necessarily know. So, here we are. My favorite part was writing Adagio finally being able to release her millennia of pent-up anger toward him about her situation.


	3. Equine Evolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate title: The Birth of New Equestria. A series of short pieces about life in a world where magic is common, and how that magic affects daily life, set in the first year of equinity.

Sunset Shimmer stood before the penthouse’s bathroom mirror, looking at her reflection. It had been eight years since she had first arrived in this world, fresh from a fight with Celestia. She’d grown up in that time, from a teenage girl of roughly sixteen (the portal did some strange things when converting from pony to human ages), to a young woman of twenty-four. Just recently, she’d changed species from human to pony. Her fur was the same shade of amber it had been in Equestria, her mane and tail the same red and yellow. She had her horn again, two hooves, and a muzzle.

Sunset lit her horn, and felt herself dip into the pool of mana that she’d had ever since her fillyhood days. Though her Element of Harmony, and ponying up when playing music had given her magic of their own, nothing could quite compare to the sensation of channeling magic through her horn. It glowed a bright teal, the same color as her eyes. She then floated over her hairbrush and began running it through her mane and tail, humming a little tune to herself.

“I love magic,” Sunset whispered, giving her tail a few happy swishes before returning to her grooming. Following that, she stripped down and stepped into the shower, again using her magic to turn the water on, set it to her preferred temperature, and float over a shampoo bottle. She worked it vigorously through both her mane and tail, then after rinsing, followed up with conditioner. Then came the body wash, now formulated to work on pony coats.

* * *

Meanwhile, Gem woke up, rubbing her eyes and stretching her arms as she sat up. “Good morning, my love,” she said to Raven, who was sitting up and stretching her wings. “How did you sleep?”

“Like a dream,” Raven answered with a grin, running her fingers along her back, where her soft lavender fur met her matching feathers. “Having you in my wings helped a lot.”

Gem chuckled. “I know I enjoyed having a feathery blanket to snuggle in.” She rose and began dressing, letting her magic do the work of getting clothes from the closet. She looked at her hands and gasped. “Oh my… Raven, look at this!” She held her hand out flat for Raven to see. Her nails had wrapped around and over the tops of her fingers, forming little hooflets.

“Amazing… looks like I got ‘em too!” Raven said, looking at her own hands. “Cool… they’re like tiny hooves! Like on our legs!"

“Exactly,” Gem said with a nod.

Raven got up to dress, and she grabbed a t-shirt and pulled it over her head, found that there were already slits in the back for her wings. “Oh awesome! I was wondering what I’d do with these… I’m not used to having ‘em unless I have my amulet on, or when we pony up.”

“Not that we’ll be doing a lot of that from now on,” said Gem, chuckling. “Now that we're all ponies.” She grabbed a brush and started grooming her mane and tail.

“Tell me about it,” Raven added. She pulled the curtains back and looked out the window. “Oh wow, look!” Pegasus ponies were now darting to and fro, pulling clouds in manually. “We control the weather now!”

“That _is_ how it’s done in Equestria,” Gem commented. “And now that our world is more like there, I can’t say I’m surprised.” Her stomach rumbled, and she blushed. “I’m going to go make breakfast for everypony… how do oats sound?”

“Add some hay-bacon and you’ve got yourself a deal,” said Raven with a grin. Gem nodded, and left the room, heading down to the main living area/kitchen.

* * *

“Morning, Gem!” chirped Sonata Dusk, as she bustled around the kitchen making breakfast tacos. “How’d ya sleep?”

“Splendidly, Sonata,” Gem said with a smile, beginning to make tea. “And you?”

“It was awesome!” The blue girl grinned, showing sharp teeth. “Later today I’m gonna head down to the pool with the girls and swim. Want to join?”

“I would,” said Gem, “But I’m probably going to go out to the park later and see how things have changed now that magic is everywhere.” She smiled, and got to work making hay-bacon. “You know, I’m really glad we aren’t the only magic users in the world anymore… keeping it to ourselves all those years didn’t seem right to me. Now that we’ve shared it with the rest of the world, I feel much better.”

“I know just how you feel,” purred Adagio as she entered the room. “Being magical creatures ourselves, it is only right that we now have access to our old gifts, even if they are in a slightly different shape than before.”

In no time at all, all eight of the friends had gathered around their usual places in the living room, eating breakfast together and watching the news. They saw commercials for horn, wing, and hooflet care, the local weather report was delivered by the head of the Canterlot National Weather Service office, himself a pegasus pony.

“Is anypony else surprised by how normal this all feels?” Sunset asked the group, as she grabbed another taco from the serving platter with her own magic.

“Like the fact that you just used the word ‘anypony’ in a sentence?” Emerald said, smirking. “But yeah, it does feel normal. I mean, look at these commercials for hooflet polish that we’re watching! Where did this come from?! The transformations only happened yesterday!”

“I might have an answer for that,” Twilight offered. “I did some analysis on the spell we cast with the Princess’ help, and our Elements of Harmony. Part of the equinization process includes changes to the Broca's area, the part of the brain that governs speech. These include vocabulary alterations, such as replacing certain nouns and pronouns used in English with their Equestrian counterparts, such as colt for boy, filly for girl, or anypony for anyone.”

“And what about the weather factories? The horn polish ads?” Aria asked.

“As best as I can tell, the weather factories were apparently generated from whole cloth,” Twilight continued. “The same with horn polish. I’m also theorizing that the hippocampus, the part of the brain that deals with memory, was altered to give us the same magical instincts ponies have.”

“So no one is freaking out because as far as they’re concerned, this is how life has always been?” Emerald asked.

Twilight nodded. “Precisely. We aren’t affected because we’ve been exposed to more magic than anypony else on Earth, the same with our former classmates and teachers. Longhaul and Vice Principal Luna, for example, would retain their memories of how things were, because they went to school with us.”

“But anypony who attended, say, Trottingham Preparatory Academy would find their minds altered, and their memories falsified,” Gem finished.

Twilight nodded. “Re-written, anyway. The content of their memories would be unchanged, they would only think they’d lived them as ponies.”

“Brain science is so weird,” Raven commented, before returning to her coffee.

* * *

The first indication Chrysalis had that something was wrong came when she realized she was levitating her coffee mug, despite the fact that she hadn’t used any magic at all in seven years. The second indication was the jubilant cries of her son, Onyx, as he flew around his room on transparent, insect-like wings that hadn’t been there yesterday. The third was an email from her girlfriend, Sunset Shimmer, explaining everything that had happened:

_“Hey Chryssy. If you’re reading this, chances are you know you have magic again. Yeah, I know, you purged it years ago, but here’s the story: yesterday we had another magic overload, one that resulted in the rapid equinification of some of Earth. I know it’s kinda sudden, but please don’t freak out. If you have any questions, let me know. Love, Sunny.”_

Chrysalis put down her phone and decided to try a few practice transformations. The old spells came to her as easily as breathing, and with but a thought, she shifted between the forms of Gem, Sunset, and various other disguises. Satisfied, she hovered in mid-air, letting her wings support her. She smiled. “It’s good to be back,” she muttered, before flying off to get Onyx ready for his day.

* * *

Corvus had been studying for a midterm when the magical wave hit. Wings the same color as those of his sister sprouted from his back, his ears changed shape and moved to the top of his head, he grew a tail, his nails hardened and extended over the tops of his fingers, forming little hooflets, and he suddenly had a craving for hay. Purple fur sprouted from his skin, he gained a muzzle, and his feet reformed into hooves. 

Corvus let out a confused neigh as he caught his reflection in the mirror. “What the… she’d better have a good explanation for this!” he groaned, picking up his phone and dialing Raven’s number. “Sis, what in the world is going on?!” he shouted into the phone. “Why am I part horse? I thought that was something only you did!”

“The whole world’s changing, bro. Don’t panic, it’s not really that bad,” Raven said, trying to calm him down. “All I can say is, we’re working on it and stay calm. How goes the studying?”

“Fine, nothing special,” said Corvus, shrugging. “I sure hope you girls can get this fixed by morning, I’d rather not be late because I was busy chowing down on oats or something in the cafeteria.”

“So strap a feedbag to your face… you can eat on the go and not scare most of the female population away with your ugliness,” Raven teased. 

The dull sound of a pillow thudding against someone’s head was heard through the phone. “I got her back for you, Corvus,” he heard Gem say in the background.

“Thanks Gem,” says Corvus, chuckling despite himself. “I gotta go, text me if anything happens!” He hangs up.

* * *

A year passes. Corvus graduates, and gets a job in Manehattan, working at one of the city’s nuclear power plants. He starts a new daily routine: a quick brush of his coat, mane and tail, followed by a preen of his wings to straighten any feathers that might have been moved out of place during the night, and an oat shake for breakfast as he boards a train to go to work. He makes himself comfortable on one of the train seats, scrolling through news headlines on his phone.

The entry point was remote from the facility itself, and Corvus filed in line to go through the usual daily procedure:  identification check, through the metal detectors, and over to the fingerprint scanners, which worked by placing the tip of one’s hooflet against the scanner and waiting for it to be read. Once Corvus successfully completed those steps, he was allowed entry through the turnstile and onto the grounds of the plant itself.

“Morning, Corvus,” one of his co-workers said as he entered the research building.  “Supervisor wanted to see you once you arrived, said it was urgent.”

Corvus frowned. “Hm.  Can’t be too serious, I still have my access… thanks.”  Corvus headed for the supervisor’s office.

The supervisor is a unicorn mare, with dull blue-grey fur and white hair streaked with light blue. She doesn’t smile as Corvus enters, but that is her usual state of existence rather than based on any feelings toward him permanently. “I’m glad you could make it on such short notice, Mr. Sable,” she says crisply. “A Twilight Sparkle at Manehattan University has been conducting research into how magic affects nuclear energy, and she has run into a few unexpected complications.”

Corvus nods.  “Oh yeah, I know Twilight… she’s friends with my sister.  Did she say what kind of complications?”

“Only that it has resulted in some peculiar mutations,” the supervisor replies. “I believe she said something about spontaneous generation of chaos magic.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard about chaos magic… nasty stuff, if what I’ve heard is to be believed.  So, where do I fit in to all of this?” Corvus asked.

“Well, prior to the events of a year ago, you were our foremost expert on magic,” the supervisor continues. “Even now, that remains true. What is more, Ms. Sparkle trusts you. I am told her mind is in a fragile state at the moment, and she needs someone she can trust to help her. That person is you, Mr. Sable."

“Guess I better get going, then,” Corvus said.

“Use the online time card to track your hours, take as long as you need, and if you find anything that seems relevant to our operations, I expect you to report it at once. Call if you need anything else,” the supervisor said.

Corvus nodded, and quickly left the office.

* * *

A couple of hours later, Corvus headed toward the nuclear science labs at Manehattan University.  Although the radioactive material used was minimal, the labs were still heavily shielded and isolated form the rest of the school.  He found the lab that Twilight was working in and, after knocking, stepped inside.  “I hear you called for a genius?” he said, trying to get Twilight to relax a bit through humor.

“Oh, hi Corvus,” says [Twilight](http://bit.ly/2wDcMya), looking up. She’d grown a snake tail, her legs had shifted into something more feline, and her arms were an eagle talon and a dragon claw, respectively. “I don’t know what happened! I was casting a simple analysis spell on this radioactive flowerpot full of daisies, and the next thing I knew, I was like this!” She snaps a talon, and it begins to rain chocolate milk inside the lab, though if tasted, it would be more like tabasco sauce.

“I… see,” Corvus said, looking Twilight over and dodging chocolate raindrops.  “Okay, get that back behind the shield in the containment area and let’s go over the steps you were following.  I also need to know what material that flowerpot is contaminated with to make it radioactive.”  He donned a protective lab coat and grabbed a pair of goggles.  “I also want to see if simply shielding the source is enough to make you return to your usual form.”

Twilight nods, and moves the flowerpot behind the containment shield manually, since she doesn’t really trust her telekinesis just now. “The flowerpot is contaminated with radium.” Once the flowerpot is safely stored away, she begins changing back into a pony, and the chocolate rain stops. “Interesting…”

“Okay, so the spell disrupted the uranium atoms enough to create a feedback in your thaumic glands, which mutated you into that other form,” Corvus theorized. “Moving the pot away and shielding it stopped the interference from affecting you and you’re returning to normal.” He stopped and thought. “So, if somepony were to use an analysis spell on one of the larger reactors, say, as part of a diagnostic check, and with reactors being fueled with primarily uranium, the resulting feedback could turn the entire city into whatever it was you were.” He contemplated the vastness of what he just discovered. “Twilight, I want to conduct some more tests with different radioactive materials, to see if the same thing happens. What we’ll do is, open shielding, have you cast the same spell, and record the results. How quick did the change occur after you used the spell?”

“About ten seconds,” Twilight reports, scribbling furiously into a notebook. “And I became what is apparently called a draconequus, a chimerical creature made of chaos magic. I’m ready when you are, Corvus.” She smiles a little, scratching gently at one of her ears.

* * *

A series of experiments were performed, using different radioactive substances.  Corvus manipulated the automatic retrieval system to move the materials to the containment area, and then opened the shield while Twilight cast her analysis spell.  The results were cataloged and organized.  Later, over hay fries at a nearby fast-food restaurant, the two pored over their data.

Twilight adjusts her glasses. “Alright, so what we’ve learned is that changing substances also changes to what degree I transform, what I am made out of, and how quickly other ponies transform when exposed to the same material.” She munches on a hay fry. “This will do wonders for my project!"

“And, I have to go back and tell my supervisor to tell everyone world wide to never use any kind of magic near any form of radioactive material, and what the consequences would be if they did,” Corvus said. “Still, I’m pretty glad we found out now, and I already gave my boss a heads-up about this.” He smiled. “You know, for a pony, you make a good guinea pig.”

Twilight blushes. “Thanks, Corvus. I learn a lot from Carrie whenever she comes to visit.” Letting out a pleased neigh, she stretches. “I should probably get home. Nothing like making huge advances in thaumology to tire a filly out!”

“Yeah, we did a lot today,” Corvus agreed.  “You gonna need me for more tests tomorrow?  I’ll need to stop by and present our findings to my supervisor before I head out, that’s why I was asking.”

Twilight shakes her head. “I should have enough to finish the project now. Thanks though. Goodnight Corvus!” She boxes up the rest of her hay fries, then hurries off into the night.

“Yeah, take care, Twilight.”  He does the same, and heads for home.

* * *

Vice Principal Luna knocked on the door of Longhaul’s house.  Since the transformation, she had gained not only a slender horn on top of her head, but a pair of silky wings, and light blue fur the same color as her skin. Her sister, Principal Celestia, had transformed in a similar fashion. Their hair seemed to take on a life of its own, moving in an unfelt, unseen, perpetual breeze.

The door opened, and Longhaul stood there blinking the sleep out of his eyes, the former bus driver having become accustomed to sleeping in most mornings.  His mane was rumpled, and his hat was perched atop his head, his ears poking out of two holes on either slide of the brim.  “Oh… morning, Luna,” he yawned.  “To what do I owe the pleasure of this early morning visit?”

“It’s hardly early, it’s 9 am,” Luna said, smiling at the rumpled figure standing before her.  “And, since it’s a school holiday today, I figured we could spend a day together.  I so rarely get to see you during the week anymore, I thought this would be a nice change.”

Longhaul grumbled sleepily.  “Anything before 11:59 am is early morning to me,” he said.  “Come in, I’ll get coffee on and we can plan our day.  Have you eaten yet?”

“Yes, Tia made pancakes this morning since she didn’t have to work. I swear, I don’t know how she keeps her figure eating such elaborate concoctions.  I wouldn’t mind a piece of fruit, though.”  Luna stepped inside and wrapped her wings around Longhaul, who sighed and snuggled in their warm embrace.

“Keep this up and we may not leave the house at all,” he said with a wink.  Together, they walked to the kitchen, and Luna sat at the table.  Longhaul put a pot of coffee on to brew.  “Were you thinking of going anywhere special?” he asked.

“It’s such a beautiful day, I figured we could take a walk through the park, or prowl a museum if it wasn’t too busy,” Luna replied.  “And then, maybe a nice dinner and back here for more snuggles.”

“Sounds like a good idea.  Let me go shower while the coffee’s brewing, and we can take them with us on the way to the park,” Longhaul said, going over to Luna and kissing her cheek.

Luna wrapped her wings around Longhaul again and kissed him tenderly on his lips.  “You know, I don’t think Tia would be too upset if I spent the night here...” she purred.

Longhaul grinned.  “I know I wouldn’t complain...”

Luna laughed and kissed him again, even as her tail moved entwine itself with Longhaul’s. Considering it appeared to be made of starlight and the night sky, it made for a very odd sensation. “Then I suppose that’s what I’ll do! I do so miss cuddling with the most handsome stallion in the city.”

Longaul shivered as their tails entwined, feeling as if he were floating in space, and blushed.  "Aw, I'm not that, I'm sure...just as long as you're happy with me, that's all I care about."  He kissed her again. "For dinner, how about that Neighponese place we saw a couple of weeks ago?  I heard they make great veggie rolls, and their yakisoba with fresh daisies is to die for."

“It sound perfect,” says Luna, clapping her hands excitedly. She’d painted her hooflets dark blue today, with tiny constellations. “Much easier on the constitution than the last time I tried eating meat, about a week or two after the changes happened. I was sick for a week, and all I had was roast chicken!”

Longhaul shivered again at the memory.  “Yeah... that wasn't pleasant for anyone.  I'm sorry, I shouldn't have even attempted that experiment.  I'm glad you forgave me, though."  He nuzzled her tenderly.  "As much as I love it right here, I better get showering so we can be on our way and you won't have to spend the day with a stinky pony."  He grinned.

Luna giggles. “Go to it then, I don’t mind waiting!” While he’s gone, she conjures a mirror from nowhere and touches up her makeup, then, when he returned, walked with him on a date of sorts.

* * *

For Emerald, work hadn’t changed one bit. Audio was still audio, even if she was recording for ponies, not humans. What she did like was that having magic at her beck and call made certain tasks easier. When she’d been human, she had to arrive two hours before the scheduled start-time just to put mics on stands, set up her console, check the mics to make sure they worked correctly, and everything else. Now, she simply let her horn glow a vibrant green that matched her name, and used magic to do most of it.

With set up done, she sat in her favorite chair and took a sip from her plain white coffee cup, running her fingertips along her forehead, and to the place where fur met bone. _It shouldn’t,_ Emerald thought, _be possible that I can have a bone bursting from my forehead, and yet… it feels totally natural. Like it was meant to be._ She blinked. “Raven was right. Brain science is weird.”

Then the studio door opened, and in came the Dazzlings. Aria smirked. “Thought we weren’t supposed to have drinks in here, Em,” she said.

Emerald smirked right back. “Cast a spell on the board that makes it impervious to water and pretty much everything else except touch and magic. Watch.” She lifted the cup in her magic, took off the lid, and dumped the contents onto the console. If she had still been human, that would have been (as one of her professors might have put it) a Bad Day. But because she wasn’t, it meant all four girls were treated to the sight of hot coffee hovering in midair, two inches above the faders. With another pulse of magic, Emerald used a time reversal spell (which Gem had taught her) and the liquid zoomed back into the cup. She grinned. “Cool, huh? Gods, I love magic.”

Adagio laughed. “Clearly, Twilight’s skill is rubbing off on you, Miss Wave,” she purred. “Are we ready to record?”

“Yup,” said Emerald at once. “Mics are in their channels, phantom power is on, master fader is set, and we’re good to go. Just sing anything so I can get your levels checked.” The Dazzlings nodded, and went in to the live booth.

* * *

It was late at the penthouse apartment. Specifically, it was almost midnight, and Gemini Shadow couldn’t sleep. She felt unsettled all day, like the air before a thunderstorm hit, and she couldn’t understand why. As the clock struck twelve, she floated her phone over and checked the date: March 25th, exactly one year since she, and her friends, had given humanity the gift of Equestrian magic.

“Not that being human really means anything, anymore,” Gem muttered, staring out the window at the city below. She’d seen it all day, in news headlines and casual conversation. What a human had been, a creature without magic, had been replaced with pony. Gem thought back to Twilight’s explanation about the language centers of her brain and sighed. “I suppose we really have changed…”

Then, her ears perked up. Somepony (there was her brain again) was coming. She waited, listening for hoofsteps, and she heard a voice whisper: “Gem? What are you doing up?” Then a shape stepped into the dim light of the distant moon, and she saw that it was only Raven, her wings folded up against her sides.

“I can’t sleep, love,” said Gem eventually. “Because I’ve been asking myself two questions: did we do the right thing?”

Raven sat beside her wife and opened her wings, wrapping them around Gem’s form, so that her feathers brushed up against the grey mare’s fur. Then she reached over and scritched each of Gem’s ears, making them twitch. “Well, let’s address your first question… wanna know something interesting?”

“What’s that?”

“In the past year, wars and disagreements between peoples have plunged to near zero,” Raven says. “There’s more kindness and generosity in the world. More empathy. Authoritarian governments are collapsing, and being replaced with socialistic societies where everypony works for the benefit of everypony else. Global warming has actually begun to reverse, thanks to unicorn scientists developing ways to extract excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and earth ponies using their connections with nature to grow new trees in a fraction of the time. Managed weather means tornadoes, hurricanes, and other extreme storms are all but extinct.” She nuzzled Gem’s cheek. “So, yes, I think we did the right thing. But is that _really_ what you’re worried about?”

“No,” Gem admitted. “Sometimes I wonder… did we do the right thing, changing all the humans into ponies like we did?”

“What choice did we have?” Raven asked. “It was going to happen whether we did anything or not. And, well, look at how much the world has improved since then, and how much happier we are. Magic is now as common as breathing. It’s as much a part of us as anything else.”

Gem nodded. “I suppose that’s true… do you ever have any regrets?”

“Never,” Raven answered. “We did the right thing, Gem. Trust me.” She kissed the grey mare’s cheek. “Come on, let’s get some sleep.” And so the two mares went back to their room, closing the door behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to write a series of short vignettes showing what happened in the year's gap between chapters 2 and 4, and this is what resulted. Many thanks to Longhaul for his assistance in the bits with Corvus, Longhaul, and Luna.


	4. Minuet in Hell: Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One year after the coming of magic to Earth, Lucifer himself rises to take control, and Gem learns a surprising fact about a certain DJ.

One year had passed since magic had come to Earth. The Tree of Harmony sent the Elements of Harmony through the mirror to the world of humans, where they took new forms, splitting into eight geodes, whereupon they were picked up by Gemini Shadow and her friends. Over time, the Elements began gradually changing their new world, to make it more like Equestria. Magical incidents such as with the humans Juniper Montage and Wallflower Blush were side effects of the change. When Gemini and her friends moved to Manehattan, the changes increased, and within months, every human on Earth was now totally equine.

The Elements gave them the knowledge they needed to use their new gifts, from magic for the unicorns, to cloud-shaping and weather control for the pegasi, and super strength and agricultural mastery for the earth ponies. Changelings became shapeshifters, and fed off love, and griffons gained superior hunting abilities in addition to flight.

In the year that had passed, technology had been changed to run on magic. Cars used magic as a fuel source rather than fossil fuels, and magic had even started to reverse global warming. A more equine digestive system meant hay, flowers, grass, and other plant life became important parts of dietary needs. And because ponies were far more docile than humans, crime decreased, though it was never totally eliminated. The only ones who weren’t pleased about the world’s changes were Louis and Lucy Cypher, King and Princess of Hell, respectively.

* * *

Louis Cypher was a man who prided himself on fitting in. Then again, he rather had to, as announcing his true self to the denizens of this dimensional backwater would only cause their minds to melt. He had deep, ruby red skin, beady yellow eyes, and a black goatee. He'd taken the form of an earth pony-human, which meant he was well built, and always wore a crisp black suit. He was 6’6”, and lived on the sixty sixth floor of the sixty sixth building on Sixth Avenue in the heart of Manehattan.

He was here because the harmonic magic that had come to the world was poisoning his kingdom, causing the amount of sinners admitted to it to decrease. The culprits, from what he could learn from his daughter, were eight girls who were known for regularly saving their old high school from various she-demons and otherwise, led by a disgustingly pure-hearted woman called Gemini Shadow. Louis had known instantly that this Gemini would be too strong for his temptations, which meant he would have to settle for others.

He had a few candidates in mind: there was Raven, Gemini’s wife. She had been a former street delinquent had been turned evil at least once, which meant there was still a part of her that would be open to his suggestions. There was Twilight, one of two former she-demons. Sunset was Louis’ favorite, he saw much of himself in her: a former student of a benevolent deity, fallen and transformed into a demonic form. Last of all was Adagio Dazzle, a siren that had appeared to turn good, but Louis knew it wouldn’t take much to bring her old self back to the surface.

Louis conjured four coins, inscribed with his image, and spent that night leaving them where he knew the girls would find them: his daughter’s candy shop. He also left a note, telling them to see him once they found the coins, and prepare to be given powers and abilities unlike anything they’ve previously experienced. As he settled in to his apartment, Louis smiled. Soon, very soon… the Apocalypse would come.

* * *

The next morning, Gem and her friends walk together to Sinful Sweets, Manehattan’s version of Sugarcube Corner, if Sugarcube Corner was vaguely demon themed.

“I remember how this place used to do the most killer Halloween parties,” Raven remarks as they walk. “Never got to go to any myself, since Corvus wouldn’t let me, but I always heard about ‘em at school.”

“I wonder why it’s called Sinful Sweets?” Gem asks, looking thoughtful. “Wouldn’t that turn potential customers off?”

Raven shook her head. “Nah, this area of town is called Tartarus’ Kitchen for a reason. People love it.” She pushes open the door and holds it open for the others. “Hey Lucy! Look who’s back in town!”

“About time you showed up, Miss Sable,” said a tall woman, who had pale red skin and black hair. Like her father, she too was an earth pony-human. She smiled. “Sinful Sweets has missed your presence. Who are these?”

“My wife, and our friends,” Raven replied. “Gem, Sunset, Adagio, Aria, Sonata, Twilight, and Emerald.” She pointed to each girl in turn.

Lucy nodded, “Welcome to Sinful Sweets, ladies. Since you are all friends of my best customer, there will be no charge for you today.”

Sonata put up her hand. “Do you have gummy tacos?!”

Lucy chuckled. “As a matter of fact, we do…” She took Sonata’s hand and led her to the gummy candy aisle.

In no time at all, the eight friends had managed to find various devilishly delectable desserts. While they’d been distracted, Lucy had slipped the coins into Raven’s, Adagio’s, Twilight’s, and Sunset’s bags without them noticing. “Come again soon,” she purrs, guiding the eight out of the shop.

* * *

Meanwhile, Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Melody were in Manehattan, for two reasons: the first was a joint concert the two of them were holding at Club Torgo, a popular nightclub in the Tartarus’ Kitchen district. The second reason…

“Tavi, I think my dad is up to something,” said Vinyl, looking up from her portable turntable and frowning.

“Why do you say that, darling?” Octavia Melody asked.

“You know how sometimes, some people have like, a sixth sense that goes off whenever something bad is about to happen? It’s like that. Dad’s been lying low for a while now, but I think he’s got a plan.” She grabbed her jacket. “I’m gonna go investigate. And I know just where to start… my older sister’s candy shop.” She made a swiping motion in mid-air, and a tear in reality opened, revealing the back kitchen of a candy store. She stepped through, and the rip closed. Octavia, meanwhile, went back to rehearsing.

* * *

“Natasia. What an unexpected and pleasant surprise.” Lucy looked at Vinyl with the same look as somepony would have looking at dog crap on their shoe. “What brings you by the shop today?”

“Oh, just thought I’d pay my darling older sister a social call,” Vinyl said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “You know, maybe grab a few pastries, talk about the weather, see what you and Dad are up to…the usual stuff.”

“Honestly, Natasia, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lucy said nonchalantly. Vinyl, however, fixed a narrow-eyed glare on her. “So, how’s that bag of flesh you call a girlfriend?”

“Her name is Octavia,” Vinyl hissed, “and she’s doing well. Don’t tell me you and Dad are still upset that I didn’t take a demon for a mate, are you?”

“But you wouldn’t even give any of the demons a chance,” Lucy replied. “I mean, what about that nice boy, Behemoth?”

“That lazy hippo?” Vinyl scoffed. “All he did was lay around and sleep. His strength may have been in his loins, but his brains were all in his crotch. Anyway, quit changing the subject. I know you and dad are planning something. You still don’t wanna tell me?”

“Maybe you should figure it out for yourself,” Lucy sneered, “with that vast intellect of yours.”

Vinyl sighed. “Fine, we’ll do it the hard way.” She snatched up a tray of cookies with little devils on them. “Put these on my tab,” she said, opening a rift and stepping back to where Octavia was practicing.”

“You don’t have a tab,” Lucy called out as the rift closed. She sighed, and went back to straightening up the shelves.

“No luck?” Octavia asks, as Vinyl returns.

Vinyl shakes her head. “Nope. Stupid Lucy was absolutely no help.” She sighs. “If you ask me, they’re still holding a grudge because I chose a mortal instead of a demon to mate with.”

“That is their problem, not ours,” Octavia says crisply. “Besides which, I’ve spent more than enough time with you in your realm, I’m as much a demon as you are now.”

Vinyl grinned, showing entirely too many teeth for an equine mouth. “Don’t I know it. All we have to do is keep an eye out for traces of demon magic over the next few days. Tonight’s show will be a good place to start.”

“Aren’t Gem and the girls coming tonight too?” Octavia asked. “We could ask them for help!”

Vinyl smiled. “Excellent idea! I’ll text Gem.” She levitated over her phone (her magic aura was bright red, to match her eyes) and quickly sent a text. “She doesn’t know I’m a demon though… so I’ll have to be vague. I’ll have her meet us at the club before sound check, we can tell her then.”

* * *

Meanwhile, Gem and friends have returned to their apartment and are enjoying the snacks they purchased. “These gummy tacos are amazing!” Sonata gushes. “I swear I can taste the tabasco sauce!” Her scaly blue tail swishes back and forth quickly.

“I’m quite fond of these devil’s food mini-cakes,” Adagio comments, purring like a cat.

“Gotta say, these extra dark chocolate donuts are spectacular,” Emerald adds.

Gem’s phone buzzed, and she looked at it while the rest were munching on their treats. It read: “Gem, b @ club torgo @4pm. Urgent. -V”

“So, who was that?” Raven asked as Gem

“Vinyl. She wants me to meet her at the club at 4 today. Didn’t say why, though.”

“Want us to come along?” Aria asked, nibbling on a devil-shaped cookie.

Gem mulls it over. “No, I think I’ll be alright. This won’t be like the last time I went off alone without you girls.”

“Damn straight,” says Emerald. “Who would go after you now? You’re a powerful unicorn for crying out loud!”

Gem blushed, and ran her fingertip along her horn. “I’ll bring my Element, just in case. If anything bad does happen, I’ll text you.” And, shortly before 4 PM, she grabs her jacket, her bus pass, her Element, and her purse before heading off to the club.

Meeting her there is a goat-legged earth stallion with a patchy wide-brimmed hat, and a brown beard and mustache. In one hand, he’s holding a black staff with a hand-shaped carving at the top. “I am Torgo, I take care of the place while the Master is away,” he says. “What is your business here, madam?”

“Gemini Shadow, here to visit Vinyl Scratch,” Gem replies.

Torgo nods. “Mistress Vinyl mentioned you would be coming. Please come inside.”

He lets her in, and Gem enters the club, looking around. “Vinyl? It’s Gem! What’s going on?”

“Oh, good you came. Come along with me, we have a lot to talk about.” Vinyl led Gem backstage, where Octavia sat, sipping a cup of tea.

‘Hello, Gemini. Care for some tea? It’s Earl Grey, your favorite,” Octavia said, readying a cup.

“Better take her up on it, you might need it when we tell you what’s going on.” Vinyl looked anxious, more so than normal before a performance.

“Of course, Octavia,” says Gem with a smile, making herself comfortable. “Vinyl, whatever is the matter? You’re not usually this anxious!”

“Well … there’s something no one really knows about me…and for good reason.” Vinyl sat down and looked at Gem. “Gem, do you know why I wear these glasses all the time?”

Gem just shook her head.

Vinyl slowly removed her glasses to reveal her eyes…her deep-red, almost glowing eyes. Eyes with a vertical pupil that resembled those of a cat...or a snake. “You see, Gemini … I have an alternate identity, too. My real name isn’t Vinyl, but Natasia, and I am the daughter of what those in this world call ‘the devil.’”

Gem’s eyes got very wide, but she didn’t cry out that such a thing was impossible. After everything that had happened to her, after all, she knew better. “Then… if you really are the daughter of the most evil being ever known… why aren’t you like him?”

“I like mortals too much,” Vinyl answered, pulling Octavia close. “That makes me the black sheep of the family. Dad and Lucy, my sister, hate the fact that I’m mated with a mortal girl.”

“Then why are you telling me this?” Gem asked.

“We think Vinyl’s… I mean, Natasia’s family may have something planned for you and your friends,” Octavia said, handing Gem her tea. “And if you’re going to stop him, you’ll need our help.”

“Allow us to give you a crash course in demon magic,” Vinyl continued. She closed her eyes and began to transform, her unicorn horn splitting into two curved goat horns. Her tail became thin, with a spade at the end. Her legs became furry and goat-like, and bright blue scales coated her cheek and neck. Octavia changed too, becoming covered in scales as a second head appeared next to her first one. Soon, she was more salamander than earth pony.

“I was human, like you,” Octavia explained, “Until Nata took me to her realm for the first time. I spent so much time there after we graduated CHS that I started to change into a demon too, and now… well, here we are.”

“Hell has a way of mutating living souls into demons,” Vinyl explained. “You’ll be fine though, as long as you wear your Element while you’re there. As Satan’s daughter, I have more powers than most other demons do, but of course, only him and Lucy are more powerful than me. And they’re the ones you have to watch out for.” They quickly shifted back into their pony guises.

“We think it involves that shop of hers,” Octavia continued. “Have you been there recently?”

“Just this morning,” said Gem. “Could our treats have been laced with something?”

“No, Father dear is more subtle than that … and enchanting a whole batch of pastries is still no guarantee of his intended targets falling under his thrall. Usually, it involves a small trinket or bauble that he casts a black magic spell on, and slips it to his target. What we don’t know is what would activate it…” Vinyl said.

* * *

“So, you got one too?” Raven asked Adagio.

“Yeah, found it in the bag from that pastry shop. Twi and Sunny got one also.” Adagio fiddled with the coin, the image of the devil prominent on the face. “Maybe it’s a special promotion or something?”

“Then, why didn’t the others get one?” Twilight asked, studying her coin. “And what’s this note about?”

“Oh yeah, forgot about the note,” Sunset said. “Makes me wonder what the heck’s going on.”

“It’s probably nothing. Oh yeah,” she said, pulling out a disc from her purse, “that creepy intern, Wormwood, gave me this to listen to. You girls interested?”

“Sure, why not?” Raven said. “If nothing else, it’ll break the monotony.”

Adagio put the disc in the player and the song began. The music began to entrance them, and soon their eyes began to glow an eerie shade of red. The coins in their possession also glowed a brilliant golden color.

* * *

“Father! They’re playing the CD!” hissed Lucy, as she closed up shop for the day. Her own magic senses were going off.

Louis smiled. “I can tell, daughter of mine… if I can just find where they are…” He closed his eyes, following the magical trail of his spell, and followed it to the penthouse apartment of a building on 59th Street. “Ah yes, there they are…” He opened a portal and stepped right into the living room. “Pardon the interruption, ladies, but I do believe you called for me,” he says, eyeing the hypnotized girls.

Emerald, who was coming back from the bathroom, saw what was going on and very quickly dove into her room, grabbing her phone. “Shitshitshitshitshit!” She called Gem’s number.

“Emerald? What’s going on?” came Gem’s worried voice.

“I don’t know! Sunny, Sparks, Raven, and Dagi are listening to some creepy music, and they’re in some kind of weird trance… and there’s this guy here, nice suit, red skin, yellow eyes… he’s talking to them, giving them orders. What do I do?!”

“Stay calm, and hang on,” said Gem firmly. “I’ll come back as quickly as I can!”

“Okay, I’ll keep Aria and Sonata with me. But what if he comes looking for us in the meantime?”

“Keep your Element pendants on, it’ll give you some protection! I’m on my way!” Gem clicked the phone off and looked at Vinyl. “Well, now we know what he’s up to, but why them?”

“And only those four,” Octavia added. “Nata, you don’t suppose…”

Vinyl’s eyes widened, and she hurriedly put her glasses back on. “If he is…this whole world is doomed.”

“Why? What do you think he intends to do?” Gem asks.

“You know how the Book of Revelation talks about the Apocalypse?” Vinyl said. At Gem’s nod, she continued. “I think he intends to rid this world of harmony magic by bringing it about, with your friends as the Horsemen. Uh… Horsewomen.”

* * *

As Louis issues his orders to the four hypnotized girls, they begin to change. Once the changes are complete, he opens a portal and takes them away to a frozen castle, leaving Emerald, Sonata, and Aria alone.

Another rip opens, and Vinyl enters the apartment, followed by Gem and Octavia. “What orders did he give them?” she asks at once, after a quick rundown of her conversation with Gem.

Aria speaks up. “Raven took the mantle of Death, Sunset is War, Twilight is Famine, and Adagio is Pestilience,” she says. “Then he took them to some place.”

“He’s probably training them to use their new powers, which will take time,” Vinyl said. “The only reason he was able to get to them at all is because they must not have been wearing their Element pendants. We’ll have to keep an eye out for plagues, poisoned crops, anger and fear… and of course, huge numbers of sudden casualties.”

”Oh, this is bad,” Sonata moaned, wringing her hands. “I mean, until now, we’ve only had to deal with minor baddies, you know, one blast form the magical friendship cannon and all is cured. How do we fight the very embodiment of evil itself? How can we stop the world form being destroyed?” Her eyes widened. “WHAT ABOUT THE TACOS??”

Aria gave Sonata a pointed look. “… really?” was all she could manage to say.

Vinyl put a hand on Gem’s shoulder. “Look. I know he’s my dad and all that, but I’m not gonna let him destroy this world. I’ll help you as much as I am able to.”

“So will I,” Octavia said, “and we’ll try to do it without harming your friends.”

Emerald was seemingly lost in thought, until she suddenly had an idea. “If I remember my Sunday school lessons correctly, everything evil has a balance, right? I mean, the seven deadly sins had opposite virtues, so … isn’t there a counteracting virtue to stop them?”

Gem nods. “Right. And we’re the Element bearers… that alone should help us. I’m Generosity, Aria and Raven are both Loyalty, Sonata is Laughter, you’re honesty, Emerald, Adagio is Kindness, Sunset is Empathy, and Twilight is Magic…” She looks to Vinyl. “If we can restore their Elements to them, will that be enough to undo your father’s magic?"

“Not in this case,” Vinyl said sadly. “As deep in his thrall as they are, their elements are as good as worthless. We need something stronger.”

“So, what you’re saying is, we need to find those that can counter their effects? Like, for instance, healing counters pestilence, and bounty counters famine?” Sunset asked. “Sorry, I’m still learning this world’s belief structure.”

“We’d need somepony very powerful to grant those to start with … and where would we find somepony like that?” Gem wondered.

“I know a guy, but he isn't exactly equine,” says Vinyl, taking out her phone. She dials a number, and puts it to her ear. “Big G? It’s me, I need a favor. Dad’s going to try and end the world, and we need help. I know some girls who can lend us a hand, but they need more power than what we’ve got already. Can you send him down for me?” A pause. “Awesome. The address here is 776 59th Street, Manehattan, top apartment. See ya.” She hangs up. “Alright, he’s coming.”

“Who?” Emerald asks, though she thinks she already knows the answer. Sure enough, a dove flies into the room from the open window, transforming into a bearded man with dark hair and skin. To everyone's surprise, there was nothing equine about him at all. He smiles. “Natasia, how wonderful to see you again,” he says, embracing Vinyl. “These are your friends Father spoke of?”

Vinyl nodded. “Yup. Girls, say hello to…”

“Yeshua,” finished the man. “It means ‘Savior’ in Hebrew.” Emerald faints.

While Sonata tended to Emerald, Vinyl continued. “Yeshua Ben-Yosef, meet Gemini Shadow, Sonata Dusk, Aria Blaze, and the unconscious one is Emerald Wave. We went to school together.”

“It is a pleasure. You are the ones that wish to save this world from the ravages of the Horsemen?” Yeshua asked.

“We hope to, anyway,” Aria replied. “And, technically it’s Horsewomen now, since it’s our other four friends that were…conscripted.”

Yeshua nods. “I can help you, but first…” He walks over to Emerald and lays a hand on her forehead. “Rise, and be not afraid.”

Emerald blinks and opens her eyes. She sees Yeshua and smiles. “I don’t know what you did but I feel great.”

Yeshua smiles. “It is within my power to heal the sick, amongst other things. Come, ladies, and pray with me. I shall bestow each of you with abilities that can defeat the unholy magics corrupting your friends.” Vinyl and Tavi block their ears, and with Yeshua leading them, the four girls pray in Hebrew, asking the Almighty for assistance in their quest.

As the sacred words rang out, Octavia turned to Vinyl and motioned to the bathroom. Vinyl nodded and the two went inside, closing the door tight.

A brilliant white light enveloped the group, and the girls’ amulets glowed with a completely new power. The light faded and Yeshua looked at the group. “In the name of my Father in Heaven, I have granted you special abilities to aid this world in the coming battle. Gemini, you are Life, the redeemer of souls in our name, and are able to resurrect those that wish to walk this earth again. Sonata, you are Bounty, able to feed all and leave none wanting. Aria, you shall be Health, able to cure all afflictions and diseases, and Emerald, you shall be Peace, able to soothe the troubled and distraught with but simple music.” A golden boom box appeared by Emerald’s side. “Go, and do good works in my Father’s name.” He dissolved into a dove once again and flew away.

Octavia and Vinyl stepped out of the bathroom and gazed at the four. “Looks like you all are ready to kick some apocalyptic ass,” Vinyl remarked.

The four glowed with an aura of pure white, which made their amulets even more radiant in their color. “So, ready to save the world once again, girls?” Gem said with a grin.

“Let’s roll,” Emerald grins. That’s about when the screaming starts.

* * *

The four horsewomen of the apocalypse are flying through town, causing chaos and destruction. The skies are red, and the heat, unbearable. At a grocery store, a single touch from Twilight causes all the food to rot, and soon it spreads to all the food in town. Raven kills a large crowd of people just by touching them with her scythe, and using it to take their souls back into Hell. Adagio turns all the water to blood, bathes the land in darkness, and creates a thunderstorm of hail and fire. Last of all, Sunset goads the innocent into fighting, and soon the streets are echoing with the sound of gunfire.

Raven laughs darkly as she flies through the streets with her fellow demons. “Ohhh, it’s been so long since I’ve done something like this,” she purrs. “It feels so nice to be free of such pesky things like harmony and goodness, wouldn’t you say, girls?” She’s not speaking English, but a harsh, guttural language that causes anypony who hears it to start bleeding from the ears.

Sunset laughs merrily. “Now, THIS is what a she-demon should be like!” she exclaimed, before looking up toward the sky. She groaned. “Oh, come on! Can’t I ever catch a break?”

Streaking toward them with supernatural speed, Gem and the rest descended upon the beleaguered city. Taking her magic screwdriver, Gem points it at the chains that bind the souls of the newly damned, freeing them to either rise to Heaven or be reborn on the earth. Aria dissipates the storm, and spreads a healing light over the land and the people. Sonata touches the same food as Twilight, causing it to rejuvenate and, just for fun, rains tacos from the skies. Emerald pushes the play button on her gilded boom box, and the soothing melodies instantly lull the combatants into a sense of calm.

“Raven, this is not who you are,” Gem says in a heavenly voice. “Renounce your evil ways and rejoin us.”

“No!” Raven thunders. “I’m having more fun like this than I’ve ever had before, Gem! And I won’t give it up for ANYTHING!” And before anypony can stop her, she drives her scythe through Gem’s chest.

Gem gasps, horrified, and collapses to the ground, landing in a pool of her own blood. She stares up at the sky, her green eyes unseeing and lifeless.

Sonata sees what’s happened and runs over, while Emerald quickly checks her vital signs. “It’s no use, girls…” she says quietly. “She’s dead.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The concept of Vinyl as a demon came from an RP I did in spring 2017 with someone else, though it was never finished. So, to get the itch out of my system, I repurposed the idea for this, and added it on to this story, which had actually been planned sometime in 2016. Yeshua, by the way, is one of the Hebrew names for the man Christians know as Jesus Christ, in case it wasn't already obvious. The idea of he and Vinyl being friends came from the unfinished RP too.


	5. Minuet in Hell: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gem is dead, putting the battle for New Equestria at risk. With no other options, Sonata, Sunset, Raven, Vinyl, and Octavia venture into the depths of Hell itself. Gem, meanwhile, may not be quite as dead as everyone thinks.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Sonata Dusk screamed, her voice echoing around the ruined buildings of downtown Manehattan. The place looked like a war zone, with death and suffering as far as the eye could see. With Gem’s death, Emerald’s boom box had stopped working, Sonata lost her ability to bring food, and Aria couldn’t heal the sick. But Sonata didn’t care, she was now holding the lifeless body of her best friend in her arms, sobbing into Gem’s blood-soaked shoulder. “How… HOW COULD YOU!” Emerald roars, pointing a shaking finger at Raven. “YOU KILLED YOUR OWN WIFE!”

“She was going to die anyway,” Raven spat. “As will all of you, once the Unholy Father has cleansed this land of the harmonic poison you carry, and claimed it in his name.” She looked to her companions. “Let them mourn… we have an apocalypse to finish.” They flew off into the dark sky. The white dove from earlier lands and changes into Yeshua, who frowns and picks up Gem’s body. “I should have realized something like this might happen… only a demon cursed with the black magic of Satan himself could have killed a Blessed One. Worry not, she can be revived… but she will not return to you until the time is right.” He dissolved, and Gem disappeared alongside him.

“Girls? What happened?” Octavia and Vinyl were running toward the three, looking worried. “What happened to Gem?” Octavia asked.

“She’s dead,” Aria hissed. “Raven killed her with her scythe.”

“Figures,” Vinyl sighed. “We can’t clean up this mess now with her gone. Gem’s power was the most important of all, and now that she’s dead, the others won’t work. Which means it’s time for plan B.” She and Octavia shifted into their demon forms, and Vinyl opened a rip. “We’re gonna go freeze my family.” And the five girls stepped through.

* * *

In the very depths of the underworld, a minor celebration was taking place. An unholy choir sang a hymn to their lord and master, their voices ringing out in jubilation. Finally, Lou stood and addressed the gathered congregation.

“Today, our day has come. The forces of good have been vanquished, and this world is ours. There is no force that can stop us, no power that can eliminate us, and from this moment forward, we shall take our rightful palce as the masters of this pitiful world and its survivors. Let those that oppose us fall under our feet, to be trampled into the very dust from whence they came! Today, we mark Year Zero, the reign of Lucifer!”

A mighty cheer rang out from the throng.

* * *

“So, how are we even supposed to stop this guy?” Emerald Wave asked, as the group stepped through Vinyl’s portal. Both Vinyl and Octavia shifted back into their respective demonic forms as they went.

“Well, for starters, we can’t kill him,” Natasia explained. “Demons are immortal, after all. We can freeze him in ice, maybe, but to cast that spell, we’ll need Gem… and since she isn’t here yet, we’ll just have to stall for time.” She gestured to the room around them. “Where we are now is Limbo, and Dad lives in a castle right at the heart of the Ninth Circle.”

“Like Dante’s Inferno,” said Aria at once.

Vinyl nodded. “Yep. He was a good guy, that Dante. Anyway, we can’t let any of the other demons know what’s going on, or they’ll try to stop us, so we’ll have to disguise you.” Her goat horns started to glow with a black light, and with a flash of magic, Emerald, Sonata, and Aria were changed into demons themselves, at least on a superficial level. Emerald became a strange hybrid of wolf and snake, and Aria and Sonata became dragons.

Vinyl grinned. “You’re not actually demons, like Tavi and me, this is just an illusion spell. It should work for now though.” She sighed. “We’ll have to take the long way down, since my big sis banished me from portaling to Dad’s place. It’s gonna get pretty bad, the deeper we go… stick with us and you’ll be alright. Let’s roll.” And, blasting some music from Emerald’s phone, they ventured down from Limbo and into the first level, Lust.

* * *

The Horsewomen spread their plague at a rapid rate, going well beyond Manehattan to cover the entire Eastern seaboard. When Louis’ congregation arrived, they worked together to bring the Apocalypse to every corner of the globe, while sending those who still lived into the appropriate circle of Hell.

In Trottingham, Carrie had been following the news of the apocalypse all day, and had gotten very worried when Gem stopped answering her phone calls. She was about to try again when a demon, one of Lucifer’s lieutenants, portaled into her living room and dragged her screaming into level 4, Greed.

* * *

Elsewhere, Gem opens her eyes and sits up, gasping for breath. She found herself wearing an all-white version of her normal outfit, save for her Element of Harmony, which was still the same reassuring sapphire blue it had always been. “What… where am I?” she asks, looking around. “Am I dead?”

“Yes and no,” came a voice from behind her. “Yes in the physical sense, but no in that you were brought here to regain your strength to continue the fight.”

Gem turns around and finds Yeshua, sitting casually on a chair. A very familiar chair. She looks around some more, and discovers she’s sitting in a familiar room. “My sitting room…” She whispers, sitting beside Yeshua now. “I’m back at Shadowfall! But I thought heaven was a place with white fluffy clouds, harps, and things like that!” Everything was in its proper place: the grandfather clock on the wall, the fireplace, the flatscreen TV (which was turned off), that stain from the time Carrie spilled grape juice on the floor while trying to use it for one of her inventions… about the only thing that was different was the view outside the windows. Instead of suburban Canterlot, with CHS just visible in the far distance, there was… a plain white void.

Yeshua smiled. “Certainly, you’ve heard the expression, ‘little slice of heaven’? This is your little slice of heaven, Gemini. A calming, relaxing place that brings you happiness and allows you to forget the worries of life. Everyone’s vision of heaven is different. This one is yours and yours alone. The heaven of your friends is unique to them as well.”

“I could certainly use that,” says Gem, hopping up and going to the kitchen to make tea. Her tea collection is there, neatly labeled as always. Soon she returns, two mugs of earl grey floating in her magical aura, one of which she gives to Yeshua. “So, you said I’ve been brought here to regain my strength… I thought all I would have to do was convince my friends to rejoin the good side, but then my wife stabbed me through the chest… I’m guessing I’ll have to do more than just that now?”

“Sadly, Lucifer’s hold on your friends is strong, such that the only way to break the bond is to battle Lucifer himself. As we speak, the others are making their way into the very bowels of hell to strike him. They aren’t powerful enough to fight him alone, you will be needed for the final confrontation. If there was a better way to release your friends from Lucifer’s thrall, we would surely do that. I am sorry, Gemini.” Yeshua sipped the tea. “We will give you as much power as we are able to aid you, but we cannot directly intervene. You and your friends alone must do this.”

“I understand,” says Gem solemnly, fingering her Element. “It’s why we have these… and why Lucifer separated us. We, alone, have been charged with protecting our world, and keeping magical disturbances to a minimum.” Out of curiosity, she flips on the TV, and what she sees horrifies her. Devastation, fire, war, fear… blood-red skies, inhuman creatures walking the streets of Canterlot, smashing everything in sight. CHS is a ruin, the front lawn littered with bodies. She turns it off and starts to cry, burying her face in Yeshua’s shoulder.

* * *

Another of Lucifer’s lieutenants approaches him. They’re sitting at the top of a skyscraper in Manehattan, once home to a blonde-haired head of state. “Sir, there are five unauthorized individuals traversing through the Circles!” she reports. “One of them is Natasia, and her mortal mate… it seems they are traveling with three other demons. They’re headed toward level four now. Should we try to stop them?”

Lucifer waves his hand dismissively. “They are of no concern to us. Even if they do reach the very center, they are no match for me and my powers. Let the fools come.”

The demon bows. “As you command, my lord.”

* * *

As they reach level four, they find Carrie, chained to the floor and being whipped by a demoness who looks like a cross between a spider and a cat. “Help! Somepony! Anypony! Please help me!” Her torturer claps a paw around her mouth and hisses, “No help’s coming to ya, you little witch!”

“Wanna bet?” Emerald Wave crouches down on scaly paws and pounces on the cat-spider, tearing and ripping at its flesh. The cat-spider yowls and retaliates, and soon the two are rolling around, fighting.

Aria and Sonata worked quickly to free Carrie from her bonds. “Carrie, what are you even doing in this circle? Greed? You’re totally the most generous and giving person we’ve met!” Sonata asks, some surprise in her voice.

Carrie shook her head. “I wasn’t greedy for physical things, like money or gadgets. I was greedy for power. Literal power. Anything I made had to have as much power as I could get into it, and even then it wasn’t enough. I started making bigger, more powerful things, and let me tell you, it was quite a rush at the time. Now I know… I must moderate and not be so hungry for power.”

“Atta girl,” says Vinyl with a grin, giving Carrie a thumbs-up. “You’re too good to wind up here. Don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye on you.” She grabs Emerald from her fight, and the group continues on their merry way, with Carrie riding on Sonata’s back. “Why are you all here anyway?” Carrie asks.

“Long story,” says Emerald. “But to make it short, we’re gonna go kick Vinyl’s dad’s ass. But we’re waiting for Gem to get back from being dead before we can.”

Carrie’s eyes narrow dangerously. “When I find out who it was that killed my cousin… I’m going to make sure they regret it.”

* * *

A gathering of angels had crowded into Gem’s sitting room, each one chanting in a long-dead language and infusing Gem with special powers. “How are you feeling, Gemini?” Yeshua asked.

“Better, now,” says Gem, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief. She drinks more of her tea. Golden light whisps around her, flowing into her mouth and giving her the sensation of sinking into a warm bath. “What powers are they giving me?” she asks him, listening to the chanting angels.

“All you need to know is these powers will grant you the ability to break Lucifer’s spells and free your friends. They will have no real memory of the events that have happened, and upon his defeat, the world will heal itself from the damage caused by the Horsewomen.” Yeshua placed his hand on Gem’s shoulder. “Sometimes, it’s best not to know the full details.”

“After seeing the destruction they’ve caused… I understand.” The chanting ends, and one of the angels taps her on the shoulder. “It is time, Lady Gemini. Your friends need you.”

“But how will I get there?” Gem asks, looking puzzled.

“I cannot take you there myself,” Yeshua says, “But I do know someone who can.” He borrows Gem’s phone, dials a number, and thirteen seconds later, a tall blue box materializes in the living room. The door opens, and a blonde-haired unicorn mare wearing a pale blue trench coat, a black shirt with rainbow stripes, yellow suspenders, and blue trousers pokes her head out. She smiles. “Oh, brilliant! Gemini! Good to see you again!”

“We’ve met?” Gem asks curiously, approaching the woman.

She nods. “Ages ago, back when Trixie tried to change your past. Back when I looked like this.” She holds up a picture of a tan-skinned human male with pointy brown hair and blue eyes.

Gem gasps. “Time Turner! I should’ve known!” Before going, she gives Yeshua a hug, and kisses his cheek. “Thank you for everything,” she says, before following Time Turner into the box. Moments later, it disappears.

* * *

After a long walk, the six travelers have finally made it to the center of Hell, Vinyl’s home. She sighs. “Home sweet home… kinda.” She unlocks the doors and strides inside with the others, looking around. “MEPHI! I’M HOME!” she yells.

“Natasia. My beloved daugher,” Lucifer replied, sarcasm evident in his voice.”Always a pleasure to see you, and look…you’ve brought your little playthings with you. Do you plan to use them like you’ve been using Octavia all this time?” His mouth curled into a sneer. “I admit, mortals are most pliable when it comes to pleasures of the flesh, but why attach yourself to one?”

“Because I actually love her,” Vinyl shoots back. “Unlike you. You killed the women you had sex with to make me and Mephi. You don’t even know what love is!”

“But that isn’t why we’re here,” says Aria, frowning. “We’re here to get our friends back and put you in chains.”

Carrie looks right at Lucifer, green fire in her eyes. “You killed my cousin. Just wait until you see what I’m going to do to you.”

“Oh, look at me, I’m shaking in my little devil boots,” Lucifer said, clearly unafraid. “The only ones going in chains are you… although, I can find a good use for you sirens. Tell me, how would you like to have your powers of persuasion back, permanently, no magical trickery involved? I can make you queens of whatever lands you wish to rule, all it takes is a small oath of loyalty to me. Whaddya say?”

“I’d say go to Hell, but we’re already there,” Sonata growls. “You stole our sister from us, demon! I’d tear your throat out with my teeth before I’d join you!”

“And we don’t need our powers of persuasion anymore either,” Aria adds. “We have something better, something you can’t conceive of! The magic of friendship!” The two of them start to glow, as do Emerald, Carrie, Vinyl, and Octavia.

Lucifer clapped his hands happily. “Oh look, darling, they’re putting on a light show!” he said to Mephi. His gaze hardens and his eyes turn blood-red. “You cannot defeat me without the fourth, and that bitch is dead and gone! Cease this meaningless charade now and maybe I’ll consider letting you join me, since you’re such good friends with Nata and all.”

Vinyl opens her mouth to reply when a strange wind begins to blow, and the same blue box materializes behind them. Gem steps out, looking completely fine, aside from her clothes, which are still bloodstained. She marches right up to Lucifer and stares him dead in the eyes, crossing her arms. Her eyes seem to blaze with supernatural power, beyond even her Equestrian magic. “Hello, Lucifer,” she says quietly. “I’m Gemini. And I would just like to state for the record that reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

Carrie tackleglomps her. “Cousin! You’re alive!”

“So I am,” says Gem, hugging Carrie back. “Were you in the middle of something, Carrie? You’re glowing!”

“Well, we were just about to put the hurt on this dude for brainwashing our friends and laying waste to the planet … say, now that you’re here, think you could give us a hand with that?” Carrie asked with a devilish grin.

“All right, enough of this,” Lucifer said, his hands charging with powerful magic. “Let’s end this game once and for all.” He leans over to Mephi. “If they start to win, kill them,” he whispers.

“Of course, Father,” says Mephi at once. Her own hands start to glow as she adds her magic to the mix.

Gem grins back. “Yes, I think I can!” She joins with her friends, rising into the air. She glows with a golden light, and a halo and magical wings form. “Lucifer, you have laid waste to the world above, brainwashed my friends, and corrupted the woman I love,” she says, pointing at him. “With the power vested in me, we sentence you to spend the remainder of eternity in ice!” It begins to grow very cold, and ice begins to form, racing toward Mephi and Lucifer. Mephi tries to blast the ice away with her fire magic, but it simply keeps advancing, and begins to creep up her body, starting with her hooves and working its way up. Roaring in anger, she concentrates and sends one blast of hellfire toward the seven, snarling. 

A green shield, erected by Emerald, deflects the hellfire away from the group. The ice makes its way toward Mephi and Lucifer, traveling up their legs and finally encasing their entire bodies in ice. The walls and ceiling also gather a layer of ice, and all goes still. One final blast radiates out from Gem, traveling through all of the layers of Hell, freeing those that were taken unwillingly and returning them to the living world, which was rapidly healing itself from the ravages of the apocalyptic riders.

When the blast faded, Gem and the others looked around. “We did it. We literally froze Hell,” Aria remarked, impressed.

Vinyl smiled, and dropped to one knee in front of Octavia. “Tavi, Dad always said he’d let me marry you the day Hell froze over, so now I ask you: will you be my bride, now and forever, through eternity?”

The rest of the girls looked on and awww’d softly.

“Of course I will,” Octavia answered, kissing Vinyl deeply. “And now that Hell has, indeed, frozen over… what will we do?”

Vinyl tapped her chin. “Well, I *am* the last of my bloodline, at least for now… which means… I’m the new Queen of Hell, and you are my consort.”

“And a fine queen you shall be,” says Gem happily, smiling at the infernal couple. “Mind taking us home?”

“Oh! Yeah, sure!” Vinyl opens a portal with a claw. “Come on by whenever!”

“We will,” Gem promises, leading the group through the portal. Emerald, Aria, and Sonata change back to their pony-human forms as they step through, finding that Manehattan looks just the same as always. Not a trace of the apocalyptic wasteland remained.

Gem smiles. “Thank goodness that’s over… now to find our friends!”

* * *

A few hours of searching later, they came upon the other four, in the park, looking dazed. Raven smiled when she saw Gem. “Hey sweetie … what the heck happened to us? One minute I was buying pastries, and the next thing I know I’m here in the park and I don’t know how I got here.”

Gem settles herself beside Raven, holding her hand. “It’s a bit of a long story, but… you four changed into demons, brought the Apocalypse to New Equestria, and then you killed me when I tried to stop you. Then I was brought back to life, and we girls literally froze Hell over, and things were restored back to how they were.” She thinks. “Oh, and Vinyl is the Queen of Hell, and she’s marrying Octavia.”

Raven listened to all of this, slack-jawed and wide-eyed. After a minute or two, she looked at Gem and said, “One of these days, I’m gonna ask that question, and you’re just gonna say, ‘Oh nothing of importance, darling, let’s just go home and cuddle.’ I don’t know when that day will come, but I look forward to it.” She smiled and hugged Gem. “So, no hard feelings for killing you?”

Gem laughs, smiling and hugging back. “None at all, darling. We’re together, alive, and I know you weren’t yourself. I could never be mad at you.” Raven smiles and kisses Gem.

Emerald, meanwhile, is cuddling Twilight and kissing her deeply. “Please never turn into a she-demon again,” she says. “I can’t take it!”

Carrie sits in Adagio’s lap, running her hands through her curls. “I like you better as a siren than whatever you were when Lucifer changed you, darling,” she says, poking one of Adagio’s earfins and grinning.

Sonata latches onto Sunset and hugs her tight. “Yay, you’re back! Everything is back to normal! This calls for tacos!!”

Aria rolls her eyes. “To you, everything calls for tacos.”

“I’m all for tacos,” says Raven stretching.

“And maybe a few drinks,” Sunset adds, looking over at Twilight and Carrie. “Then maybe… drunken science?”

Carrie grins. “Now that sounds like a great idea! Let’s go!” And, laughing merrily, the nine of them head off to a taco place.


	6. Three Scientists And a Robot Baby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunset and Twilight wake up after a night of drinking to find they accidentally built a walking, talking, robot girl.

Among the rooms in the penthouse apartment that Gemini Shadow and her friends shared was a small laboratory, with everything a pair of college-age scientists would need for their experiments. At this moment, it was early morning, and Twilight and Sunset were just waking up after a long and productive (if drunken) night of important work. Twilight sat up first, her lab coat falling off of one shoulder, and the top button of her dress shirt was undone. Her hair, of course, was a mess. “E=MC2!” she cried. “Unless… wait, huh? Oh… right… Sunset!” She gripped Sunset’s amber hand in her own lavender one and pulled her up. “Wow… I guess that’s the last time we go out for a drink before one of our advanced scientific research sessions, huh?”

“It’d better be,” Sunset moaned, sitting up. “It’s a small miracle we made it back to the apartment and got to work at all!” She looked down at herself, and noticed her shirt was missing. “Twi, have you seen my shirt?”

“No,” Twilight replied, straightening up some loose papers with her magic. Her horn glowed as she did so.

“What did we even end up doing?” Sunset wondered, tapping her hooflets together. “I recall being really excited about building something, but look at this mess!” Her own horn glowed as she began straightening things up. “What did we do?!”

Twilight shrugged. “I don’t really remember… my head’s fuzzy and my throat’s dry.” Someone offered her a glass of water, and she took it in her telekinesis, smiling. “Oh, thank you.”

“You are welcome Mother Unit Alpha,” said a robotic, computer-like voice. A teenage filly with fur that sat somewhere between Twilight and Sunset’s respective color schemes approached, her servos whirring as she moved. She had robotic pony ears too, along with a horn, metallic hooves, and a synthetic tail that matched her mane. She looked to be about 16, and was wearing Sunset’s favorite t-shirt. “Your hydration level was low so it seemed logical to bring you a glass of dihydrogen monoxide. Does Mother Unit Beta want one too?” Twilight glared at Sunset, who gulped.

Twilight and Sunset looked at the android, then turned to look at each other. “Twilight…what the heck did we do last night?” Sunset asked in a whisper. “Did we make… her?”

Twilight took a sip of water. “It would seem so,” she replied quietly.

The android looked at both of the girls. “Do the Mother Units require sustenance? I can download and prepare a recipe for both of you if you so desire.”

“I would desire some coffee. Do you know how I like mine prepared?” Sunset asked.

“That information is part of my basic programming, Mother Unit Beta. I shall prepare coffee for you.” She turned and walked out of the room.

When she left the room, Sunset turned to Twilight. “Okay, here’s what we know. We went out last night, got completely smashed, and apparently built her in a drunken haze… but for what purpose? Even more important, did we somehow give her sentience?”

Twilight shook her head, and winced a little bit. She looked around the somewhat disorganized room. “It’s possible we may have wanted to build something to help with the basic chores, like cleaning, and making coffee…as for the sentience part, there’s only one other person we can call to answer that…” She picked up her phone and selected the name in her contacts.

* * *

“Congratulations, you two!” Carrie Shadow exclaimed after Twilight explained the situation. “It’s always a thrill the first time you give something you built life! So … male or female?”

“Female,” answered Twilight.

Carrie nodded, flicking her bat-like wings and slowly swishing her tail. She was in her lab in Trottingham, looking at Twilight and Sunset by means of a magical hologram projector that had been programmed into her phone. “What race is she?”

“Unicorn,” answered Sunset. “And according to some tests we ran, she shares our knowledge of unicorn magic too.”

“In fact,” added Twilight, “Magic is as much a part of her as any of us. She could probably pass the Turing Test if she wanted to.”

Carrie hummed thoughtfully, and flicked her tufted ears. “From the sound of things, it’s our magic that is allowing her such sentience… pre-equinization technology alone wouldn’t have been able to do the job, this is hardly the 24th century.”

“So, what do we do? We can’t just treat her as hired help, and the thought of deactivating her in the meantime just give me bad feelings,” Sunset said.

“Okay, don’t panic,” Carrie said, “I’ll be out there as soon as I can and we can get this back on track.”

“But, what do we do with her until then?” Twilight asked, confused and a little worried.

“Get to know each other! Gotta pack, seeya soon!” The connection terminated.

Sunset heard a noise behind her and turned to see their ‘daughter’ returning, a cup of coffee floating in her magical grasp. “Here is your coffee, Mother Unit Beta.” She floated the cup over to Sunset, who took it and took a sip. Sunset smiled, as it was perfect, and exactly to her liking.

Twilight motioned to a nearby chair. “Please, take a seat. We have some questions for you.”

The android complied, sitting demurely on the chair.

Twilight sighed. “Okay, I guess the first question we have is…what is your name?”

“I am not sure,” answered the android. “You did not bestow upon me a designation following my activation.”

“Why don’t we call her Nebula?” suggested Sunset.

Twilight nodded. “I like that. Nebula Sparkle. Or Nebula Shimmer. Nebula Sparkle-Shimmer?”

Sunset chuckled. “Let’s just go with Nebula for now, we can worry about last names later.” She turned back to Nebula. “How old are you?”

“Approximately twelve hours have elapsed since I was activated,” Nebula replied. “However, I have also been given the appearance of a sixteen-year-old humanoid equine female. For the sake of argument, I am sixteen.”

“Saves us having to go through diapers,” said a voice. Emerald had entered the room, carrying a breakfast tray in her magic, and a coffee cup in her hand. “Morning Sunny, morning Sparks,” she says, kissing Twilight’s cheek. “And hello to you too, little miss. I’m your Aunt Emerald. I think.” She offered Nebula her hand, which Nebula shook. In fact, she shook Emerald’s hand so hard that Emerald was flipped into the air, landing with a loud crash on the lab’s work table. She sat up, covered in various colored liquids. “Damn, that’s one hell of a grip…”

“We may need to recalibrate her strength,” Sunset said as Twilight helped Emerald up.

“Processing now,” Nebula said. A few seconds later, she blinked. “Calibration complete. Strength in subroutine ‘social’ has been recalibrated to lower parameters.”

“Good to know…” Emerald groaned.

“It’s just growing pains,” Sunset tried to explain with a sheepish grin.

“So this was what all that noise was last night,” Emerald continued. “I wondered what all the banging and thumping was, and when I peeked in, Sunset had taken her shirt off. I figured I’d get to sleep and get the explanation in the morning, you two were good and jolly well crocked when you got home.”

“How much did we even have?” Sunset wondered. “And *what* did we have? I don’t remember ever getting this drunk when I lived in Equestria, or even when I hit the drinking age here.”

Emerald shrugged. “Who knows. Maybe turning into a humanoid pony had an effect on your alcohol tolerance? I know for a fact there are all kinds of magic-imbued cocktails out there now, maybe you had some of those.”

“It’s possible,” said Twilight, “But we’re drifting away from why we’re here.” She turned back to Nebula. “Do you have any hobbies? I know from my books that one of the most important things about raising foals is supporting any hobbies they might have. Can you eat organic food? If you can, we can ask Sonata to go shopping for you if need be.”

“I was not programmed with any hobbies,” Nebula responded. “I can process organic food, however it is not required for my survival. I require a full charge of my power cells approximately once per week, and a charging cycle usually lasts for approximately eight hours. I accomplish this task automatically.”

Twilight nodded, making notes on a clean page in her notebook. The questioning went on for a little while longer, but since Nebula had only recently been built, there wasn’t much to ask. Instead, Sunset and Twilight both decided that it would be wise to let Nebula live as normally as possible, and form her own hobbies in her own way.

* * *

Some hours later, Carrie arrived. Rather than coming by airplane, she simply flew in through one of the apartment windows, panting heavily. “Phew! My first flight across the Atlantic, all by myself! I’ve never had such a workout!” She flopped over. “How are things with Nebula, girls?” By this time, Nebula had been introduced to the rest of the group.

“Splendid,” says Gem, entering the living room and helping Carrie up. “Twilight and Sunset are working on adjusting her speech patterns to a more casual mode of speaking. Emerald wants to program her to riff movies, like the ones in that show she likes.”

Adagio sweeps into view, giving Carrie’s ear a playful nip with her teeth, and squeezing Carrie’s hand with her own webbed one. “I’m guessing you know quite a bit about sentient robotics, dear girl?” she asks, smiling.

“Sentience, yes, not so much with sentient robotics, although there was that one time I somehow granted the gift of life to my little wind-up hopping chicken. I miss Clucky,” Carrie said wistfully. “Kinda sad ending, really, she saw a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant one day and the thought of it popped her mainspring.”

“But, we can get her to act more like a pony and less like a robot, correct?” asked a concerned Gem.

“Oh, absolutely! I’ve binge-watched every episode of Small Wonder to prepare for an event like this!” Carrie said excitedly.

“So what do we do?” Twilight asks, entering the room. “I’ve been looking over every robotics book I have and I haven’t found anything!”

Carrie rolled up her sleeves and put on a spare labcoat. “Leave it to me, girls! I’ll take care of everything!” She entered the lab and got to work.

Adagio, meanwhile, looked over at Gem. “You remember the last time we messed with robots, don’t you?”

Gem nodded. “I’d never be able to forget it… poor Octavia was almost wholly converted before we were able to cure her. I hope something like that doesn’t happen again.”

* * *

Nebula sat in a chair next to a workstation in Twilight’s lab. She was connected by means of a special cable to a computer, which Carrie was working on, typing commands and checking variables. Carrie’s fingers flew across the keyboard, new instructions being passed along to Nebula with each passing minute. Stopping after a short while, Carrie got out of the chair and walked over to Nebula, a small screwdriver in her hand. “How do you feel, Nebula?” she asked, tightening a screw in the back of Nebula’s head.

“I feel fine, Aunt Carrie,” Nebula replied, sounding fairly normal and not robotic at all.

Carrie smiles. “Splendid! That’s just what I was hoping you’d say!” She puts down the screwdriver. “Alright, let’s give Emerald’s program a try...” She took out her phone, and after a few taps, a holographic video began to play. It was a recent Wonderbolts show. “Say the first joke that pops into your mind!”

“I feel the need… the need for speed!!” Nebula replied, before humming the opening to “Danger Zone.”

Carrie was so pleased that she began to bounce around the room, clapping her hands. “I did it, I did it, I did it! She’s a real live little filly! She just happens to be a robot!”

Sunset looks over at Nebula and smiles. “What do you want to do now, sweetie? Go out for a walk around town?”

“That would be nice, Mama Sunset. Will Mama Twilight be coming, too? And can we stop at Sugar Cube Corner? I feel like I want a cupcake,” Nebula answered.

“Of course we can,” Sunset said, smiling. “We can do whatever you’d like to do today.”

“Yay!” Nebula smiles, her servos whirring softly as she gets up and heads out on the town with her mothers. Not only do they visit Sugarcube Corner (where they discover that Nebula can, in fact, eat food like any regular pony might), but they also visit the Manehattan Public Library, and the Museum of Natural History. Through it all, not a single pony notices that Nebula is actually an android.

On the way home, the city’s weather team begins to move in clouds for a late afternoon thunderstorm. Twilight puts up her umbrella, and the 3 are kept dry from the rain as it begins to fall.

 

A day or two later, Gem is reading the day’s news headlines on her tablet and frowning. “Cousin, I’ve just heard there’s a new computer virus about,” she says, looking over at Carrie. “You did install anti-virus software on our niece, didn’t you?”

Carrie nods, “Yeah, cousin, I’m pretty sure I did, why?”

Their heads turn as Nebula enters the room. She is dressed in all black, her hair is streaked with black and purple, and her eyes are accented with black mascara. “Greetings,” she mumbles as she moves through the room.

“Oh, no reason,” Gem deadpans. She calls after Nebula, “Are you okay, Neb?”

“Life is pain, life is darkness, and the darkness enshrouds my soul like an enshrouding shroud,” Nebula replies in a monotone. “How are you?”

“Quite well, thank you,” says Gem slowly. “You, ah, aren’t thinking of converting me into a cyborg, are you?”

“Of course not, Aunt Gemini,” Nebula answers. “That would be highly ineffiecent. Besides, you’ve already built up an immunity to any virus I could write.” Before Gem can say anything else, the door slams open, and Sunset and Twilight each grab Carrie in their magical auras, glaring fiercely. “FIX. OUR. DAUGHTER. NOW,” they growl in unison.

“I, for one, like the new and improved Nebula,” says Aria, passing by with some laundry. “We can totally rock out to Siouxie and the Banshees now.”

“NOT HELPING, ARIA,” Sunset exclaimed.

“Okay, okay, I’ll wipe her memory and reboot from the clean backup.” Carrie go up and headed to the lab, before she stopped suddenly. “Um, any one of you remember where I put the backup drive from yesterday?”

Sonata raises her hand, looking guilty. “Uh… my fault. I was cleaning and took it to the recycling place.”

Carrie facepalmed. “Great… so I’ll have to do all of that coding AGAIN.”

“Not all of it…I think I still have the original source code from when we first built her,” Twilight replied. “So, all you’ll have to do is modify it to the new parameters.”

“Good,” Carrie answered, “that should shave a few hours off of the workload. And I can do it on a clean workstation and upload it when it’s done.”

The walls began to shake as Linkin Park blasted full-volume from Nebula’s room.

“C’mon, we’re wasting time! If we don’t get that virus out of her, her whole system will be corrupted!” Sunset cried.

“On it!” Carrie opens the door to Nebula’s room and, while she’s distracted, presses the emergency shut down button, located on the back of her neck. Nebula goes limp, and the music stops abruptly.

Twilight and Sunset carry the limp form of Nebula back to the lab while Carrie powers up a workstation. Hours pass as Carrie rewrites the code for Nebula, and Sonata begs repeatedly for forgiveness from Sunset and Twilight. After much more begging, cursing, and coding, Carrie sits back in her seat, exhausted. “There, I think I have it. I’ve integrated an anti-virus program into the main program, so this shouldn’t happen again. It’ll auto-update as she goes along.” She connects the cable to Nebula. “One more thing before we start.” She pops a thumb drive out of a USB port and puts it in her pocket. “The backup, so we don’t have to do this again.” She boots Nebula into safe mode and and looks to Twilight. “Push the button, Frank?”

“With pleasure!” Twilight pushes the button, and Nebula’s startup noise plays as she turns on. She smiles. “Good evening, Mama Twilight! Why am I dressed like a goth?”

Twilight kissed Nebula’s cheek. “It’s a very long story, but one that I’m glad is over.” She gives the android a hug, and Nebula hugs back.

Carrie and Sunset breathe a sigh of relief.

* * *

“So, all we have to do is show her a textbook and she will instantly be able to absorb that information? We can have her up to her grade level in a weekend?” Twilight asked Carrie as the group sat around in the living room.

Carrie nods. “Right. What’s more, I’ve also enhanced her magic abilities. Put enough spellbooks in front of her and she could become one of the most powerful unicorns on New Equestria, just like her parents.” She grins a bit.

“And you put safeguards in place to prevent her from using that knowledge in malevolent ways?” Adagio asked, sipping a drink and lazily playing with Carrie’s ear.

Carrie nods. “She will not transform into a raging she-demon, nor will she try to turn us all into cybernetic creatures like herself. And anything that tries to corrupt her will be rendered inert immediately.”

The entire group breathes easier upon hearing that. “Well, Twi, I guess we did a decent job with Nebula after all, and thanks to Carrie’s help, she’ll be seen as a normal teenage girl. Maybe we should get drunk and build things more often.”

Twilight laughs. “Maybe, Sunset. Maybe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It became something of a meme for various pony fanfic writers to adapt this comic: https://crydius.deviantart.com/art/What-we-did-last-night-691730750 so this is our take on the concept.


	7. Me TV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gem gets her own TV show, only for the producers to come up with a plan of their own.

It was a quiet Saturday afternoon at the Rubies’ apartment. All 9 of the girls, including robotic teenager Nebula Sparkle, were gathered around the main living room watching TV, or in Sunset’s case, quietly tuning her guitar. As the commercial for Musky Mustang’s hooflet polish came to an end, the show they were watching came back on. The show was about two couples trading spouses for a month, and exploring the altered family dynamics.

“Didn’t this show used to be on before magic happened?” Aria asked the others at large.

Emerald nodded. “Yeah, but it wasn’t super interesting back then. You’re watching humans swap places with humans for crying out loud, it was boring as all get out. The producers had a hell of a time making an interesting show. Now that we’re all ponies, it’s not as hard.” Right now they were watching a unicorn mare get into an argument with the pegasus daughter of her new spouse, an earth stallion from Whinnyapolis. As the argument escalated, Emerald exclaimed, “Tonight on ESPN: Full-contact nightgown wrestling!”

“Mama Sunset,” asked Nebula, “Why do biological ponies find this sort of thing entertaining?”

Sunset shrugged. “I’ve been asking myself that question for twelve years, Neb. I don’t know either.”

“At least this is more interesting than the show with that conservative trans mare,” said Gem, as she sipped her tea. Raven sat beside her, stroking her wife’s tail.

“Oh yeah, the one who said she’d be Tangerine Dream’s ‘ambassador.’” Emerald made air-quotes with her fingers. “What a nimrod she was.”

“If they ever do another biographical reality series like that,” Gem added, “I hope they pick someone nicer.”

Raven chuckled. “Like you? You’d be great for one of those!”

Gem blushed. “Raven, don’t be silly. I’m nowhere near interesting enough for that.”

Raven scoffed. “You do interesting things every day! And besides, you’d be a better role model for trans mares because you’ve actually got your head screwed on straight!”

“Oh, is that what all that noise was in your bedroom last night?” Aria asked, deadpan. She would have said more except for the flurry of pillows that smacked her from all angles wielded by Sonata and Adagio.

“You two better restock those before Corvus comes to visit this weekend,” Raven said to the sirens.

“Consider it done,” Sonata said with a grin, right before a retaliatory pillow smacked her in the face.

Gem looked at Raven with a serious expression. “You do realize they’re going to want to show my home life too … you really want the whole world to see this?” she asked, gesturing to the wild pillow fight between the sirens and Emerald, who just couldn’t resist a good, fluffy battle.

Raven nodded, beaming. “At best they’ll get a huge laugh out of it and our ratings will go up, and anypony who doesn’t like it doesn’t have to watch! Besides, we’re a herd of hot lesbian mares. Who _wouldn’t_ want to watch us?”

“Fundamentalist evangelicals?” Sunset offered.

Raven rolled her eyes. “Apart from those! They still haven’t given up trying to purge the devil’s power from their bodies!” She blew a few locks of hair out of her face. “So will you do it, Gem?”

Gem gave her tail a few thoughtful swishes, before nodding. “As a matter of fact, yes, I think I will. But who do I talk to? I don’t know any media moguls!”

“We don’t need to, see?” Raven had one of Adagio’s trade magazines open to the television section, and pointed to a large advertisement. “REALITY SHOW IDEAS WANTED!” screamed the headline. “All we have to do is write up a synopsis of the show we want to do and have someone pitch it to the studio execs. I bet Dagi could point us toward someone that would represent us.”

“Alright.” Gem floats over her laptop and lifts the lid, opening a word processor. “Let’s see… the life and times of a wealthy transgender philanthropist and her loved ones? What say you, girls?”

“Ooo! Can I be a secret crime fighter?” Sonata asked, excitedly.

Aria rolled her eyes. “No, but you can be a not-so-secret dork.” She ducked as a pillow flew over her head, narrowly missing her. “Some crime fighter, can’t even aim properly.”

“I’m in, what about you, Sparks?” Emerald said, leaving the battle and sitting with Twilight.

“Okay, I’ll give it a try,” Twilight replied.

“It would be good exposure for our recording career,” Adagio mused.

“I’d kinda like to stay in the background, if I could,” Sunset said, “I’m not much for being a TV star.”

“There we go, let’s get to writing it!” Raven enthused. The girls gathered around and helped Gem prepare the synopsis.

* * *

The next day found Gem and Adagio traveling to a production office in midtown Manehattan, specifically the legendary 30 Rockefeller Plaza. They’d chosen to take a taxi, which were now pulled by earth ponies rather than relying on traditional internal combustion or magic engines. Gem wore a smart business casual outfit, her horn had been polished, her coat, mane, and tail brushed, and her hooflets had a thin coat of clear polish applied to them that made them glimmer in the sunlight.

As their driver guides them through the busy traffic, Gem looks worriedly to Adagio. “Are you sure this is a good idea, Dagi? What if they reject us?!"

“Gem, dear girl, please try to calm down,” Adagio soothed. “When we get into that room, you need to be able to project the aura of having the best thing on television and they’d be fools not to put your show on the air. Be confident, be firm, and once the meeting is done and you’re back at home, then you can have your nervous breakdown. Not before.”

Gem smooths out a few folds in her skirt and nods, doing some deep-breathing exercises Twilight showed her. “I’ve faced all manner of she-demons, criminals, transphobes, and even Satan himself… how hard can a TV executive be?” They pull up to the building, and two climb out. Gem gives their driver a generous tip, then walks with Adagio into the building.

After consulting a map, they take an elevator up to the executive offices for Peacock TV, one of the premiere national networks. Gem steps up to the secretary’s office, clears her throat, and says politely, “Good morning, we have an appointment with Mr. Larimee. My name is Gemini Shadow, and this is Adagio Dazzle.”

The secretary, still typing away, barely turns her eyes toward the pair. “I’ll let him know you’re here, please take a seat,” she said in a disinterested tone.

Gem and Adagio look at each other, shrug, and sit down in two chairs in the waiting area. “Is it any easier in the musical business?” Gem asked in a hushed tone.

Adagio shook her head. “Not really. Here, we’re just trying to sell an idea, and if that one doesn’t fly, we just create another one. In the music business, you’re selling a piece of you that you crafted over a long time, and there’s no guarantee they’ll even give it a listen. There’s a lot more hoops to jump through.”

“Mr. Larimee will see you now,” the secretary announced as she hung up the phone. As Gem and Adagio walked to the doors to the office, the secretary pressed a button under her desk and the door opened.

Mr. Larimee is an older stallion, with pale blue fur and a light grey mane and tail. He’s also a pegasus pony, though he keeps his wings tightly folded against himself when not in flight. He smiles warmly at the two as they enter, with the air of someone’s kindly grandfather. “Good morning, ladies,” he says politely. “I’m told you have a show to pitch for me today?” He gestures to two chairs in front of his desk.

Gem nods. “It’s a show focusing on… well, me, and my family,” she explains. “I don’t suppose you’ve heard of me?”

Larimee nods. “I have, in fact. Founder of the Rainbow Alliance LGBT club at your high school, student at the Manehattan Institute of Education, savior of the world several dozen times over… you are a remarkable mare, Ms. Shadow. I think you’d be a worthy addition to our program schedule.”

Gem blushes. “Thank you, sir. I’m glad you have such faith in us.” She looks to Adagio. “Shall we show him everything else we have planned?”

Adagio nodded. “We plan to focus on Gem’s home life, as well as her activities in the community at large,” Adagio explained, passing over the synopsis. “We may need to get location clearances, but everything else can be shot walking around or in the apartment.”

Larimee looked over the documents. “Okay, I’m sold. I’ll advocate for getting your show on the air. I have a meeting with the top brass about the schedule later on, and I’ll bring this up. You’ll her from me in a couple of days.” He smiled and shook their hands. “Miss Shadow, I do believe you’ll be a fine addition to Peacock TV.”

Gem and Adagio smiled and shook his hand, then exited the office. On the cab ride home, Gem turned to Adagio and asked, “Did that really just happen?”

Adagio smiled. “It certainly did, dear girl, it certainly did.”

* * *

The next few days are a whirlwind of activity. Gem’s show is approved and given an order for a 14-episode first season, with an option for more if ratings are good. While Adagio and Emerald work on getting location clearances, Gem and Raven meet the camera crew, who will film the first episode, a simple introduction to Gem and her family, and their daily lives.

A magical camera follows Gem around as she gets out of bed in the morning, fixes breakfast for her roommates, takes her morning estrogen pills, and gets ready for a busy morning of online classes and other coursework. In the afternoons, she spends time reading to local children at the Manehattan Public Library, complete with voices for each character and magic-based special effects where appropriate. “…And so, the two princesses and their faithful pet dragon lived to fight another day!” said Gem, closing the book and smiling at the youngsters. “Wasn’t that terribly exciting?”

The children cheer, and the parents smile.

Weeks pass, and the show proves to be popular, winning the top spot in the weekly ratings consistently, which in turn led to the network ordering a full season of 26 episodes for the coming fall. A celebratory dinner was held at one of the finest Manehattan restaurants, where Gem thanked everyone that pushed her to do the show and helped make it a success.

* * *

Several executives sat around a large table a few months later, listening to the top executive for the network rant and rave about the schedule in general, and Gem’s show in particular.

“It’s too damn boring!” crowed one of the executives. “She’s such a damn goody-goody that the ratings are even starting to slide! Nobody can believe someone can be so perfect all the time!”

“Believe it,” said another executive, who was the show-runner assigned to monitor the location shots for the network. “She’s just as perfect and boring in real life as she comes across on the screen.”

“Regardless, she’s still pulling in the ad dollars and the show is still in the top five, so cancellation is out for now,” said the chief executive. “And, I’m tasking you to come up with ways to spice things up. If you can’t, maybe your replacements will have better luck. Meeting over.”

The two trudged out of the office and down the corridor. “Well, no sense putting off the inevitable. Better update the ol’ resume, I suppose,” said one of the executives.

“Hang on,” the show-runner said. “I’ve got a basic idea, let me flesh it out while I’m on set and I’ll shoot the basics to you. And see if the old Manehattan sets are still available out west.”

* * *

Meanwhile, Emerald enters the living room peering at the screen of her tablet. “Well girls, the Nielsen ratings for the Hearthswarming special came in,” she said. “And they’re not good, we have a twenty percent drop in viewership in the 18-24 demographic across males of all races.”

“But why?” Gem looks puzzled. “I thought they would have enjoyed that concert we threw at Madison Square Garden!”

Emerald shrugs. “Beats me. Maybe when the show resumes next week our ratings will pick up.”

* * *

The next day’s location filming was setting up at the studios the Dazzlings were recording their new album in, and Sunset had tagged along to watch the process. She made her way through the maze of extra personnel there to record the television show, and wasn’t looking when she bumped into the show runner, who was talking into his cell phone.

The brief contact was enough, and Sunset saw what was going on … the meeting with the top executive, the plan to use the soundstages and hire body-doubles for Gem and the others … as it all flashed through her mind.

“Hey, watch where you’re walking, lady, there’s delicate equipment here!” shouted the show runner, clearly annoyed.

“Oh … sorry sir, I’ll…be more careful,” Sunset said meekly, backing away.

The show runner nodded curtly and returned to his call. Sunset could hear him talking as he walked away. “Yeah, sorry about that, got bumped in to … no, some groupie for the singers, I guess…yeah, so what’s casting come up with?…Good, so we can get the roll done in time to splice it?…Super, thanks for getting that turning..what?…nah, they’ll never know…” The volume dropped as he moves further away.

Sunset sighed, and knew she had to tell Gem about this, even if it would crush her to know what the network was up to.

* * *

While Gem sits in a corner, sobbing into her hands, Raven explodes, magic flying from her fingertips as she springs to her feet. “THOSE BASTARDS!” she yells, her Manehattan accent thicker than ever. “WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THAT SHOWRUNNER, I’LL WRING HIS LITTLE PENCIL-NECK AND THROW ‘IM INTO THE HUDSON!”

“But what can we do to stop them, Sunset?” Twilight asks, looking worried and wringing her hands. “Would using the Elements of Harmony even work on them?”

“It wasn’t entirely his fault, either…these orders came from the top, as I said,” Sunset said. “I’m still not clear on what they meant by ‘spice it up,’ either.”

“I think we’re about to find out … they’re showing a ‘lost footage’ show, and I don’t remember shooting this scene, do any of you?” Aria calls out, watching the TV. The group gathers around, except for Gem, and their jaws drop as they watch. The footage appeared to have been filmed from a distance, with a microphone barely picking up the conversation, almost as if it was set to appear as some type of behind-the-scenes footage not intended for broadcast. The scene resembled the end of the Hearthswarming episode, as Gem, or someone who, from a distance, could pass for Gem, exits the library. She’s approached by another female.

“Miss Shadow,” the other female says, “I represent the Manehattan branch of TransUnited, and I was wondering if you could come and give a talk to our group about the fight for trans rights in—”

“You really think I have [BLEEEP] time for this [BLEEP]?” ‘Gem’ appeared to say. “I got a [BLEEEEP] television show to produce, and I ain’t got time for [BLEEP] [BLEEEEP] touchy-feely talks with a bunch of butthurt [BLEEEEEEP], so take your [BLEEP][BLEEEEP] [BLEEP] and stick it [BLEEEP][BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP]!”

The group watched in horror as ‘Gem’ shouldered her way past this unsuspecting mare, who immediately fell to the ground and began to cry. No words were forthcoming right away, although most of the group was shaking with rage.

The only mare who isn’t shaking with rage is Gem. Hardened by years of being called out as a ‘dirty shim’ by certain individuals in high school, disgust by the pony formerly known as her mother, and other de-equinizing tactics, she knows better than to explode when someone wrongs her. Instead, she calls up the same cold calm she displayed at her press conference in Trottingham, dials Larimee’s number on her phone, and puts on her bluetooth headset, because raising a phone up to one’s ears when they were on the top of one’s head got old after a while.

“Mr. Larimee? This is Gemini Shadow, the mare whose character you are currently assassinating in the interest of higher ratings. Am I correct in understanding that it was you who signed off on the creation of this so-called ‘lost footage’ episode? I am? Excellent. I have a few things I would like to say. First of all, if you must hire body doubles, would it have troubled you to cast a simple color-changing spell on my double’s eyes so they matched my forest green, not the icy blue of the mare I’m currently watching?”

“Don’t give me that excuse, I am a unicorn, half my friend group is comprised of unicorns, that sort of a spell is foal’s play for us. Furthermore, her accent is wrong. No, it’s not an Oxbridge accent she’s speaking with, it’s rather obviously Bronclyn!”

“Oh yes, the reason I called. I don’t appreciate being presented as an angry shrew, and I would be the absolute last pony to refuse to speak to TransUnited, the founder is a close friend of mine! No, Mr. Larimee, I don’t care what offers you attempt to make me, I don’t need a higher salary, I already have more money in my possession than you do! I will instead give you an ultimatum: cancel the show and pull it off the air effective immediately, or you will become very well acquainted with my family’s lawyers. Do I make myself clear? I do? Splendid. Good day to you, Mr. Larimee.” She hangs up and removes her headset.

Adagio smirked. “And that, Raven dear, is the higher-road version of throwing someone into the Hudson.” The group gathered around Gem and gave her reassuring hugs.

* * *

“So what did they end up replacing us with?” Gem asked as Raven flicked off the television. Still somewhat soured by the experience, Gem was boycotting all forms of television not featuring time-traveling aliens in blue police boxes, or gallant crews exploring the vast outer reaches of space in sleek starships.

“Something called Everybody Loves Satan,” Raven replied. “Supposed to be a sitcom around the making of a reality show about the Prince of Darkness and the wacky adventures he has raising a couple of daughters.”

Gem looked out the window of their apartment, and saw an angry black cloud forming over the general area where Vinyl Scratch and Octavia lived, lightning flashing through the ebony puffs and low rumbles of thunder making their presence known.

“I wouldn’t get too attached to it,” Gem said. Everyone laughs at that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story started out as a response to Caitlyn Jenner getting her own TV show (and she's the woman Emerald derisively refers to in the opening), but then it became a story about Gem experiencing character assassination and getting mad about it, in her own way of course.


	8. Princess Sunset

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Sunset is mistaken for royalty, she and Raven go to Equestria Prime to find out what's going on.

Apart from eight girls in Manehattan, and one from Trottingham, no one really seemed to notice their transformation to a more equine way of life. The change was so seamless that when Princess Celestia proposed opening trade and tourist routes between the two worlds, the idea was met with great enthusiasm on both sides. Before long portals sprung up at various locations in different cities and towns in both worlds, and ponies on both two and four legs crossed frequently between them. Wagons and carts of differing sizes passed through special checkpoints, moving goods between the worlds and providing a valuable source of revenue as new markets opened.

Manehattan became a popular tourist destination, with the cities sharing many features, and the streets and sidewalks became busier with each passing day as streams of tourists flooded the area, craning their necks to look at the tall buildings and snapping pictures. The locals took it in stride as Manehattanites did for years before, and life continued on as normal, for the most part.

“I can’t believe how touristy this place has become,” Raven Shadow remarked to Sunset shimmer as the two walked through the city. “I remember not too long ago when this area was nothing but porn shops and peep shows. Now, it’s all family entertainment. I never thought I’d see that happen in my lifetime.”

“What about your old neighborhood?” Sunset asked. “Has it changed much?”

“A little,” Raven answered. “It’s not as rough, but we still try to keep the tourists from going too deep, there’s still pockets of the old gangs roaming about.”

A small group of ponies, distracted by the grandeur of the city and not paying attention to where they were walking, bumped into Sunset and Raven. “Oof, hey, be careful,” Sunset said to the group.

The group stopped upon hearing Sunset’s voice and looked at her with wide-eyed expressions. “Oh mah stars, it’s her! Forgive us, yer highness, we didn’t mean no harm to ya, y’all ain’t mad ‘r nuthin, are ya?” said one of the ponies. She looked at the group. “Bow, ya idjits!” she hissed, and they all did so.

Raven and Sunset exchanged confused looks. After all, it wasn’t every day one of them got mistaken for royalty. In fact, this was pretty much a first.

Sunset blinked. “Mad? Why would I be mad?” She watched the ponies bowing to her with mounting puzzlement. “Uh… everypony? You don’t need to bow to me. I’m just an ordinary mare.”

“She’s so modest!” cried one of the other ponies. “You’re an inspiration to us all, Princess Eventide Glitter!”

Raven tilted her head, confused. “Who’s Eventide Glitter?”

“The new ruler of the island formerly presided over by the Storm King,” Sunset explained. “Her territory is just off Equestria’s southeast coast, past Klugetown and the Sea of Clouds.”

“Oh yeah!” Raven nodded in recognition. “I remember the Storm King… not like I could exactly forget him.” She looked back to the group of tourist ponies. “What do we do about these?”

“Play along,” Sunset whispered back.

The group’s leader, a relative of the Apple clan, spoke again, adjusting her hat. “So what are ya doin’ here, Majesty? Visitin’ the sights of New Equestria?”

“Yes! That’s exactly what I’m doing!” said Sunset loudly and woodenly. “And this is my guide, Raven Shadow!”

One of the other ponies approached Raven, looking up and down. “I’ve never seen a pony like you before!” he exclaimed. “What are these?” He pointed a hoof at Raven’s hand.

“These are hands,” said Raven, wiggling her fingers.

“Then why does Princess Eventide have them? She should have four legs, just like us!”

“I was… transformed!” said Sunset at once. “The portal I used changed me, and here I am!”

“So, why are you all so surprised to see Princess Eventide here?” Raven asked, trying to change the subject and avoid more explanations. “I mean, even royalty deserves a break now and then, right?”

“Yeah, but with everythin’ goin’ om back home, Ah didn’t think she’d chance leavin’ … ‘specially with her throne in danger ‘n all…” said the group leader. “Ah mean, if she left there may be a chance she ain’t gonna be able to git back thar…”

Sunset waved her hand dismissively. “That’s never been a concern to me. You all enjoy your vacation here, and I’ll go with my guide to make sure things are still okay back home. Would that make you feel better?” To Raven, she whispered, “We need to find out what all this is about. You up for a road trip? Or, portal trip, as the case may be?”

Raven nodded. “Sounds good to me. I don’t think I’ve crossed over since we transformed.” After saying goodbye to the tourists, the two hurried along to the specially-built terminal where Manehattan portal was, and after going through the necessary checkpoints, stepped through.

* * *

What followed was the usual whirling tunnel of colors, but no sensation of being transformed. When they arrived in Equestria, Raven looked herself over, and found she looked exactly the same. “Huh… I guess we don’t change when we cross over, just like with the Princesses.”

“Right,” Sunset replied. “As far as the portal is concerned, there’s no real difference.”

“Unfortunately, it’s gonna attract a lot of attention,” Raven said, indicating the gawking ponies looking at the duo.

“I suppose we should get to the palace, or wherever it is that this Princess Eventide lives.” Sunset looked around. “You see a map anywhere?”

“MAPS! GET YOUR MAPS OF EQUESTRIA, RIGHT HERE! FREE MAPS!” yelled a pony nearby. Raven took one and unfolded it. “Okay… it hasn’t been updated since we beat the Storm King, but I think that island with the storm clouds hovering over it is his place.” She ran her finger along the map to where they were. “That’s a long way for two ponies to go, and I’m pretty sure I can’t just fly us both there.”

“So, I guess we stat looking for shuttles, then … or other portals,” Sunset said.

“In that case, we may as well start walking,” said Raven, and off they went. Equestria’s Manehattan wasn’t too different to the other world’s, if somewhat smaller and not proportioned for ponies who walked on two legs, though changes were working on being made to accommodate tourists.

From there they boarded a train to Mount Aris, land of the hippogriffs (which both mares noticed looked a lot nicer than it had the last time they were there), and took a ferry to Princess Eventide’s island. They sat on the deck, watching the island come into view.

“Wonder what the problem is,” Raven mused. “Are the Storm King’s goons staging an attack?”

“Those ponies said her throne was in danger,” Sunset pondered, “but they didn’t say from whom or how. It could be an inside threat, or it could be from an attack or invasion. I guess we won’t truly know until we get there.” She looked out toward land. “More importantly, how are we gonna get close enough to see what the problem is, and if we can help? What if they think that we’re the usurpers and have us arrested?”

Raven sighed, leaning back in her seat. “I have no idea, Sunny… I wish Gem were here… if there was anypony who could help us out of this mess, it’d be her.”

“Then you two are in luck,” said a male voice. “I may not be Gem, but I share her ingenuity!” None other than Orion Shadow stepped into view, smiling warmly at the two New Equestrians. “It’s a pleasure to see you both again, Ms. Shimmer, Ms. Sable,” he added, straightening his bowtie. “Even if you do look a little different than the last time we met.”

“Oh, hey Orion,” said Raven, waving. “What are you doing here?”

“A mission for the crown,” Orion said. “The same one you two are on.” He looked around quickly for any eavesdroppers, found none, and breathed a sigh of relief. “For the duration, I’d ask that you two refer to me as Virgo Shade, it’s my cover name while I’m working.”

“If you’re here on official business, this must be serious,” Raven said. She looked around. Seeing nopony on deck, she moved closer to Orion. “So, what the heck’s going on? And just how close of a resemblance is Sunset to this princess?”

“More importantly, what can we do about it?” Sunset asked.

“Allow me to explain,” Orion began. “After you eight freed the princesses from their stone prisons and the Storm King was destroyed, an alleged distant relative of Princess Twilight’s named Eventide Glitter appeared out of seemingly nowhere, and crowned herself princess of his former island, despite being a unicorn. Sunset here actually looks just like her, aside from a different eye color and a darker shade of red in her mane.”

“That explains why the ponies we bumped into confused me for her,” said Sunset, exchanging a look with Raven.

Orion nodded. “Precisely. The current problem is, the Storm King’s followers made the island their home, and they don’t take kindly to being ruled over by a foreign national. But if you ask me?” He leaned in close. “I’m not quite sure about this Eventide Glitter pony. I asked Princess Twilight about her before I left, and she said she had no idea who this mare was. There’s no record of her in the Sparkle family tree.”

“Which means we could be dealing with an imposter,” Sunset finished. “But what can we do about it?”

“Allow ourselves to get captured and wait for somepony to blab their evil plans to us,” said Orion simply. “It’s Luna’s second favorite way of interrogating criminals.”

“What’s the first?” Raven asked.

“Beating them into submission,” Orion answered.

Raven grinned and rubbed her hands together. “I _like_ her!”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Okay … so, that doesn’t explain who the true ruler of this land is,” she said, “and more importantly, how we find said ruler and get them back on their rightful throne.”

Raven blinked. “Yeah, you’re right! So, the only way to find the real ruler is to get captured and see if we’re gonna be held in the same place…seems kinda chancey, if you ask me.”

“I’m sure everything will work our in the end,” says Orion soothingly. “Oh, look! We’re coming in to dock!” The ferry slowed to a stop, and a plank was lowered, allowing the passengers to disembark easily. Orion led the way off the ship, with Raven and Sunset following. He frowned. “That’s odd… I thought there were more here…”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Virgo Shade!” said a voice. A hedgehog approached the three, flanked by two yetis, former members of the Storm King’s guard. “Come to escort the Princess back home, huh? Well, you’re too late! Guys, let’s capture them!” The two yetis quickly placed chained iron cuffs on Orion’s forehooves and Raven and Sunset’s arms, and dragged them away into the island’s depths.

“How did you know I was coming?” Orion asked. “This was supposed to be a top secret mission!”

Grubber rolled his eyes. “You’re kidding, right? I remember hearing about you from before the Siege of Canterlot! Besides, we got guys on the inside who are working for us!”

“I see.” Orion frowned. “And what of Princess Eventide?”

“Well, I don’t know how she escaped the island and turned into an other-worlder,” said Grubber, looking over at Sunset, “But who cares! We don’t have to do what she says!”

“Nope, you sure don’t, looks like I’m your prisoner now, oh woe, whatever shall I do?” Sunset said, hoping not to sound too eager to be captured. “Now I’ll never know why you’re doing this, or who the rightful heir to the throne is, oh woe and sadness…”

Raven nudged Sunset. “Quit laying it on so thick,” she whisper-hissed.

“Sorry…” Sunset whispered back.

* * *

The group proceeded to a dark, ominous looking castle, where the Storm King had once lived. It was a grim and ugly looking place, and the dungeons were dank and depressing. The three ponies were thrown unceremoniously into a cell and left there while Grubber went upstairs to attend to other things.

Across the room, in another cell, a mare who did look exactly like Sunset, save for a few cosmetic differences, got to her own hooves. She looked at the three new arrivals in surprise. “Who are you?!” she asked. “I’ve never seen the like of you before!”

“My name is Virgo Shade,” said Orion, “and these are… Sunrise Sparkle and Corvus Tenebris. We’re here to find out who the rightful ruler of this land is.”

“Why, I am,” said Eventide. “I am Eventide Glitter, sovereign of this island.”

“No you aren’t!” Raven shouted. “I bet you’re a fake, and you’re hiding the real ruler away somewhere! Who are you really, some kinda changeling or something?”

“Relax, Corvus,” Sunset said trying to calm Raven down. To Eventide, she said, “Forgive my friend, she’s heard rumors that you may not be who you say you are. But, to be honest, very few knew about you prior to the removal of the Storm King. You have to admit, it all seems very convenient, and just a little bit suspicious.”

“Alright, fine,” sighed Eventide. “You caught me. I’m not Eventide, there is no Eventide, it was just an identity I made up!” Her horn glowed, and she began to transform, her coat turning snow white and her mane and tail turning black. Her real cutie mark, a mask, appeared on her flank. “My real name is Dolosia, my special talent is shapeshifting, so I work as an actor! Or I did, until my touring company was killed when the Storm King took over Canterlot.”

“I’m very sorry for your loss, ma’am,” Orion said, “but jumping from being an actor to being a princess … I don’t know what the rules are here, but I do know in Equestria, impersonating royalty is a very serious offense. However, your intentions seemed good and you had no desire to defraud your ‘subjects,’ and in light of that I will put in a good word to the princesses to mitigate any punishments they may be considering…assuming we can get out of here first.”

“But, your disguise…the similarities to me were astounding, if the colors were slightly off,” Sunset said. “What did you use as a model for your disguise as Princess Eventide?”

“Just some eyewitness accounts of you and your friends rescuing us from the Storm King,” Dolosia explained. “Did somepony think you were me?”

Raven nodded. “That was how we got roped into this whole mess! Some ponies from here approached us in the street and confused Sunset for you!”

Dolosia blushed. “Sorry about that… when I heard they were opening Equestria to races from other dimensions, I sent a few of my subjects to the mainland to go exploring.” She shifted back into her Eventide form. “I don’t suppose you three can lend a hoof?”

“We can try,” said Raven, getting on her hands and knees. “We just have to get out of here first!” She turned around and bucked the door of the cell as hard as she could, aiming for the lock. Dank and depressing as the dungeon was, it also had seen better days. The lock gave easily under Raven’s kick, and the door swung freely on its hinges. Raven seemed surprised that it worked as well as it did. “Whoa, that was almost too easy!” she said.

“Easy or not, it worked, now let’s find Grubber and find out what he’s up to!” Orion exclaimed, leading Raven upstairs.

* * *

Meanwhile, Grubber is standing in the Storm King’s old throne room, watching the enslaved ponies below. “Now that’s more like it! None of this cutesy wutesy friendship crap!”

The doors slammed open, and Orion and Raven entered the room. Raven turned to Orion. “Got any ideas?”

“Just one,” Orion replied. “What exactly do you have in mind, Grubber, now that you’ve ‘freed’ this island from Princess Eventide’s rule?”

“I’m gonna take over Equestria, duh!” said Grubber. “We have a lot of surplus junk left over from last time, so it’ll be even easier!”

“You forgot one thing though,” said Raven, advancing on Grubber. “We can stop you again.” And she punched Grubber in the face, sending him to the ground. Orion cast a stasis spell on him, freezing him where he lay.

Raven smiled. “Quick and easy! Like he even had half a chance. This island is so small, and Equestria’s military is so big, he would’ve gotten his flank kicked in an afternoon!”

“Quite right,” said Orion with a nod. “Now to let Dolosia know she can retake her throne!”

* * *

Orion, Raven, and Sunset stood together in the throne room of Canterlot Castle, which had been extensively redecorated. Orion didn't like it. Dolosia, still acting as Princess Eventide, had retaken her throne as ruler of her unnamed isle, and Grubber and his goons had been rounded up and imprisoned for their crimes, both in this incident and in the Storm King invasion.

Princess Celestia smiled at all three of them. “Once again, you do your country proud, Sir Shadow,” she said to Orion.

Orion blushed. “I’m happy to, Your Majesty.”

“And what of this Princess Eventide?” asked Luna.

“Princes Dolosia now,” Sunset said, “and after reassuring the locals that she would only stay in power until they could set up a government of their own, and would only act as an arbiter to resolve disputes and not enforce or enact any restrictive laws, they were more accepting of her. They may even let her remain as a figurehead, more for appearances than anything else.”

“She even reverted to her original appearance, so poor Sunny here won’t be mistaken for her any more,” Raven added.

Celestia nods. “I am glad to see all worked out in the end. You all did your jobs wonderfully, and should we need you again, you will be duly informed. You are dismissed.”

Orion bowed. “Until next time then, your majesties. Sunset, Raven, give my best to Gem, please.” Then, with a last smile, he turned and trotted away.

Luna turned to the two New Equestrians. “There is a portal station not far from here, should you wish for a quick return to your own world.”

Raven nodded. “That’d be great! Thanks!”

Luna smiled. “It is no trouble. Farewell for now, my little ponies.” Both mares blushed, then headed off in the direction of the portal station.

* * *

Gem was pacing the living room of the apartment when Sunset and Raven stepped through. Gem’s tail swished agitatedly. “There you two are! Where have you been?! It’s not like you to be go off on an adventure without letting one of us know first!”

“Sorry, sweetie,” Raven said, hugging Gem and kissing her cheek. “Top secret super spy stuff, kinda happened at spur of the moment.”

“Oh, Orion sends his regards,” Sunset added, “and the princesses said to say hello.”

“Apology accepted,” Gem replied, hugging Raven back and nuzzling her. “Does he now? That’s wonderful! I must go and visit him soon.” She remembered something, and grabbed Sunset’s journal from the coffee table. “Twilight wrote to you while you were away, Sunset,” she said, opening it to the proper page.

A note read: _“Dear Sunset Shimmer: I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch with you lately, I’ve been so busy with my duties as a princess of friendship and head mare of my school that I simply haven’t had time for anything else! I’m writing today to ask if you might be interested in coming to my school as a guest lecturer. Given how easy it is to travel between my world and yours now, I felt it might make for an excellent learning opportunity! Let me know if you can come as soon as possible, I’d also like to organize a field trip to your world if I can. Your friend, Twilight Sparkle.”_

“Well, that’s … quite the surprise,” Sunset said after reading the note to the others. “I’d never thought about giving a lecture before. What do you all think?”

“I say go for it! Sounds like it could be interesting!” Raven replied, then paused for a moment. “Wait, she has her own school now? When did that happen?”

Sunset shrugged. “I dunno. No one else mentioned it, either. Might be worth going just to see what it’s like.”

Gem cheers, clapping her hands excitedly. “Sunset, this is a wonderful opportunity! You simply must let me come along, I could use the experience! And, well, one of my class assignments for this semester is to teach at a school for a day, so this is perfect!”

“Will they even let you go, though?” Emerald asked. “I mean, Princess Sparks’ school is in another world, after all.”

“I don’t see why they wouldn’t,” said Gem. “Equestria’s just another country now, after all.”

Sunset smiled. “Of course you can come, Gem. I was going to ask you anyway! Want to get started on writing our lecture?”

“I’d love to!” Gem nods eagerly. “I was thinking we could begin by going back to the very start, when you were a raging she-demon. No offense.”

“None taken,” chorused the rest of the group, and everyone laughs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by a picture of Sunset in a Princess Peach costume. I even went and dusted off Orion's old spy adventures for the story!


	9. Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Mares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Twilight builds a snow pony, only to receive a nasty surprise. Meanwhile, a winter storm bears down on Manehattan.

Since becoming a unicorn, Twilight Sparkle had settled into a routine. After spending the morning yanking a brush through her mane, tail, and coat, she’d attend college classes with Sunset, work on homework, and spend a few hours in their lab, practicing her growing magical talent. It had only been a few months since the Great Equinification, and Twilight was eager to get a handle on everything her new abilities had to offer. The levitation powers she wielded as a human had been great, but now that she was a full pony, that meant there was more she could do, which meant more she could study.

Winter break meant she had even more time to practice, especially now that Hearthswarming (formerly known as Christmas) was out of the way. One particular weekend in January was the last weekend before classes resumed, so Twilight could be found on the penthouse roof, building a snowmare. Manehattan’s weather team had scheduled quite a snowstorm, and she would make the most of it.

“Sparks, what in New Equestria are you doing?!” Emerald Wave shouted, her hooves making crunching noises as she climbed through the door leading down to the penthouse. “We got a winter storm warning in effect until Sunday, this isn’t the time to be building snowmares!”

“Emerald, calm down!” Twilight said, turning at the sound of her wife’s voice. “I’m perfectly safe!” She was presently surrounded by a pink sphere of magic that allowed her just enough room to build her creation, and she [wore](https://is.gd/LN82f4) a purple winter coat with a black skirt, though her fur was thick enough that she didn’t really need it.

Emerald (who was clad in little more than jeans, a hoodie, and a scarf for the same reason) put her hands on her hips. “Twilight Nebula Sparkle, I ain’t playing around! If you don’t move that shapely pony flank of yours by the time I count to ten, I’ll get Raven up here to pull your tail, and I know how much you hate that!”

“Can I at least put on the hat?” Twilight asked, giving Emerald puppy-dog eyes. (Her ability to do so had only improved since the change.)

The yellow unicorn raised an eyebrow, unmoved. “Depends. Is it an enchanted hat?”

Twilight pawed at the ground with her hooves. “Only with a simple animation spell... I put on the hat, she’ll dance around and she can speak! Please?”

Emerald sighed. “Fine... but then you’re coming inside, no exceptions!”

“Understood,” Twilight replied, levitating the hat into position. The effect was immediate: the snowmare did indeed come to life, its coal eyes blinked as she turned to Twilight and said, “Hello! I’m Frosty the Snowmare!”

Emerald rolled her eyes. “Of course she is,” she muttered.

“Hi Frosty!” Twilight said, smiling. “My name is Twilight Sparkle! I hope you don’t mind, but my wife says I have to go in now, and I can’t take you inside, or else you’ll melt!”

“That’s perfectly alright,” said Frosty. “I can wait as long as I need to!”

“I’ll be back as soon as the storm passes!” Twilight promised, heading toward the door. She and Emerald stepped through, and it closed behind them with a loud, metallic CLANG.

Frosty chuckled to herself, her smile turning into a sneer as her snowy horn began to glow a deep, rich black. “Oh, I can wait, alright... I’ll have all the friends I need,” she muttered, as balls of snow began to form and take on a vaguely equine shape.

* * *

“So, remind me why the weather team scheduled a huge blizzard for this weekend?” Aria Blaze asked, as she sat on the couch polishing her scales.

Raven looked up from the card game she was playing with Sunset. “‘Cause they didn’t use all the December snow like they were supposed to,” she replied. “So now we have to have this blizzard to make up for it.”

“That’s one advantage to a managed weather system,” Gem mused. “No more must we wonder why the storms come when they do, for the weather service is quick to explain why.”

“Except earthquakes!” Sonata exclaimed. “Not even ponies can predict earthquakes!”

“How much snow are we supposed to get?” Adagio asked.

Twilight checked her phone. “Approximately a foot,” she reported.

“Good thing none of us have anything to do this weekend,” Emerald said. “I’d hate to attempt driving in this.” It was snowing hard now, so much so that none of the 8 mares could see more than the buildings directly across the street.

What they could do, however, was _hear_ things; since becoming ponies had vastly expanded all five main senses, hearing especially. Gem’s ears flicked back and forth. “Can everypony hear something?” she asked.

“Yeah,” said Emerald, a frown on her muzzle. “Like… wings. Only muffled.”

“Weather ponies?” Raven ventured.

Adagio shook her head. “Not this close up.” She rose and trotted over to the nearest window, peering up at something in the distance. “No way…”

“What?” Sunset got up from her card game. “What do you see, Dagi?”

“Pegasi,” Adagio replied. “Pegasi made of snow. They’re flying and everything!”

“Pegasi?!” Twilight got up from her chair. “But that’s impossible, I only made _one_ unicorn!”

“And then you gave the unicorn a hat that let it become a sentient creature,” Emerald pointed out.

“What are the pegasi doing, Adagio?” Gem asked.

“Carrying snow unicorns and snow earth ponies,” Adagio answered. “Like they’re building an army.”

“Oh no…” Twilight put her face in her hands, “What have I done?!”

“Sounds to me like you used a spell that you shouldn’t have,” said Sunset. “Golem creation is one of the darker forms of magic, I can’t imagine Princess Twilight would’ve let you anywhere near those.”

“She didn’t give it to me!” Twilight sobbed. “I snuck into the restricted section of the Canterlot Archives and took the book myself!”

“And now we have to go stop an army of snowmares from taking over Manehattan,” Emerald said with a sigh. “Which can only mean one thing!”

“Girls, get your Elements,” said Gem at once, floating her own Element geode to herwith magic. Then, one by one, the eight mares suited up in winter clothes and stepped out into the gathering blizzard.

* * *

Raven had never seen Manehattan so empty before. Apart from the eight of them, nopony else was in the streets. But that didn’t make their job easy. The snow had increased to a fever pitch, making it impossible for them to see any farther than the ends of their muzzles.

“GEM, THIS IS RIDICULOUS!” Raven yelled over the wind. “HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO STOP THESE CREATURES WHEN WE CAN’T SEEWHAT WE’RE DOING?!”

“YOU’RE A PEGASUS!” Emerald shouted. “FLY UP THERE AND STOP THE SNOW!”

“DAMMIT EMMY, I’M A MAGICIAN, NOT A WEATHERMARE!” Raven hollered.

“HANG ON A SEC!” Aria called. “I MIGHT BE ABLE TO DO SOMETHING!” Her webbed, scaly hands began to glow bright magenta as she used her Element’s weather control magic to create something like a shield around the eight of them. Inside the shield it was warm, like springtime. Then the shield expanded, getting larger and larger until it covered most of downtown Manehattan.

“Excellent work, Aria,” said Gem, smiling. “This will make the search much easier!”

“You sure the Snow Goons won’t just melt?” Emerald asked her fellow unicorns.

“As a magical construct, they’d be impervious to Aria’s weather magic,” Sunset explained. “Normal snow should melt though.” And it was, at a rapid pace.

Then, they heard it: the muffled clopping sound of hooves made from hard-packed snow. Frosty the snowmare and her army of snow ponies were approaching, wearing evil grins on their faces. She raised a hand and ordered her troops to halt, then strode up to Twilight, baring sharp, icy teeth. “Hello, Twilight,” she said, smiling hungrily.

“Frosty, why are you doing this?!” Twilight exclaimed. “I didn’t mean for you to turn evil, I just wanted to build a talking snow pony!”

“Then you shouldn’t have used dark magic in the first place,” Frosty spat. “What are you, a foal?!”

“I didn’t know!” Twilight cried. “I’ve only been a pony for a few months, I’m not used to having this much magic at my fingertips!”

“That’s no excuse!” Frosty thundered. “You did this, now you have to face the consequences! Snowmares, attack!” She brought her arm down, then she and her army began to attack the Bearers. The snow pegasi rose into the air and got into an aerial fistfight with Raven and the sirens, while a snow earth pony began to attack Emerald, leaving Frosty and two other snow unicorns to attack Gem, Sunset, and Twilight, placing dark magic against light.

Emerald tried to rip off the arms of the monster attacking her, but it was no use; the earth pony was simply too strong. When she tried punching it, she nearly broke her hand.

Raven and the Dazzlings weren’t faring much better, their wings kept icing over thanks to the ice breath powers of their enemies; just trying to stay aloft was getting harder and harder to do. Soon, they were grounded, tied to a lamppost with chains of ice. The four unicorns of the group weren’t far behind.

Raven sighed. “So much for that. Looks like we’re licked, girls.”

To everypony’s surprise, Gem smiled. “I wouldn’t say that… we _are_ chained _together_ , after all.” Then she took Raven’s hand. The purple pegasus grinned, and took Sunset’s hand. This went on, until every Bearer had joined hands.

Frosty chuckled. “Hoping for one last Kumbaya moment before the end, huh?”

“Do you expect us to sing?” Emerald asked, raising an eyebrow.

Frosty shook her head. “No, Mrs. Wave, I expect you to die!”

Emerald smirked some more. “Then, you should really take a hint: we never do what’s expected of us!” Then she and her friends began to rise into the air, the ice chains swiftly melting.

Frosty stared, her eyes widening. “What.. is… happening?!”

“Here comes the sun!” chorused the Rubies, as a magical rainbow flew right toward Frosty and her army. There was a flash of bright light, and everything went white.

* * *

When they came to, a gentle snow was falling from the sky. Twilight sat up and looked around, her mane in disarray. “Did… did we do it?”

Sunset picked up the smoking remains of the cursed hat, and nodded. “Seems like it.” Frosty and her army had melted, and became harmless.

Emerald took the hat and threw it into a trash can as the others all got to their hooves. “Think we’ll see her again someday? Like in the song?”

Sunset shrugged. “Sure hope not.”

“I’d say this calls for a cup of hot chocolate,” Gem announced, smiling. “Sound good, everypony?” Several simultaneous happy neighs met her ears, and she laughed as they trotted toward the nearest Sunbucks, white flakes drifting slowly behind them.


End file.
